OLIVER PAIPOONGE – Brian Fiddes helped make Doug Laprade’s homecoming a special one.
The Scottsdale, Ariz. forward netted a hat trick on Saturday night to lead the visiting Soo Eagles to a 5-3 win over the Kam River Fighting Walleye to claim this year’s edition of the Teleco Cup.
“I’ve got to shout out to my teammates who got me the pucks, it’s not just on me,” said Fiddes, who had 18 goals and 43 points in 47 games last season with the Eagles, semifinalists in the most recent Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs.
“But it was a good game for myself.”
Unlike Friday night’s Teleco Cup opener, it was the Eagles who jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to see their opponent even things up.
But despite losing their early advantage, the team from Michigan never let it get them down and kept hustling like they were playing for their post-season lives, not working out the kinks in an exhibition game against the defending regular season Superior International Junior Hockey League champions.
“I think we got to pucks first in the first period and it was just jumping on them and getting bodies too,” Fiddes said.
“We get those pucks after we hit them, so it works for us.”
LaPrade, the nephew of former NHL rookie-of-the-year Edgar LaPrade, said he's more concerned about seeing progress on the ice than the actual result on the scoreboard.
"Obviously I'm happy to win. We're doing the same thing Kam is, getting players in and out and trying to see what we have so we can build our roster for the season. Winning is obviously a bonus. Coming here to my hometown, I'm pretty excited about it, so to be able to have our guys come and compete against a really, really good team, we're really happy with the effort and the outcome," said LePrade, who suited up for the Thunder Bay Flyers in the mid-1980s and was an 11th-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 1988.
Chase Tallaire opened the scoring on the power play for the Eagles, connecting for the second straight night, the lone goal of the first giving the Soo a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Fiddes netted his first of three, lifting a shot high over the shoulder of Kam River goaltender Andrew Kreis, to make it 2-0, the goal coming at the 3:11 mark of the second, their second man-advantage marker of the contest, played at the Norwest Arena.
The Fighting Walleye kept pushing and were rewarded nine minutes later when Ethan Lang deposited the puck past Eagles goaltender Reid Ramsay, the nephew of Bruce Ramsay, a winger who spent 14 years in the pros, including five seasons with the Thunder Bay Thunder Hawks, Thunder Bay Senators and Thunder Bay Thunder Cats.
It took just 46 seconds to net the equalizer, Trenton Morriseau's weak shot taking a funny bounce that eluded Ramsay.
But it was all Eagles from there, at least scoring wise.
Captain Jack Mortson scored the game-winner for the second straight night, taking advantage of a turnover by Kam River's Mackenzie Sedgwick to find himself alone on Kreis.
He made no mistake and the Eagles had the lead for good. Fiddes doubled the lead at 4:38 of the third and completed his three-goal night later in the period. Evan Morrison wrapped up the scoring for the Fighting Walleye with just over five minutes to play, but the home side failed to score with Kreis on the bench in favour of an extra attacker. The two teams wrap up their three-game exhibition series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Norwest Arena.
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1. Soo, Tallaire (Belanger Jr., Gaggerman) 7:59 pp. Penalties: Gallaher KFW (tripping) 1:27. McMahon SOO (interference) 3:40. Duchesne KFW (hooking) 7:12, Duchesne KFW (roughing) 11:51, Jimenez SOO (high sticking) 18:59. Gallaher KFW, McMahon SOO (cross checking) 19:26.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2. SOO, Fiddes (Palweski, Briskey) 3:11 pp. 3. Kam River, Lang (Neilsen, Morriseau) 12:20. 4. Kam River, Morriseau (Neilsen, Gorst) 13:06. Penalties: Briskey SOO (interference) 19:10.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5. Soo, Mortson (unassisted) 1:02 sh. 6. Soo, Fiddes (Rozema, Woldt) 4:38. 7. Soo, Fiddes (unassisted) 9:17. 8. Kam River, Morrison (Duchesne) 14:39. Penalties: Gallaher KFW (goaltender interference) 0:48, Hendry SOO (hooking) 16:11, Woldt SOO (tripping) 16:39
GAME DATA – SOG – Soo 7-10-11-28, Kam River 14-12-13-39; Power plays (goals-chances) – Soo (2-4), Kam River (0-4); Goaltenders – Soo: Reid Ramsey, Kam River: Andrew Krels; A: N/A.
