After a formal protest by the Powassan Voodoos on the OT goal by the Soo Eagles in Game 4 of their quarter-final, due to a penalty misinterpretation by the on-ice officials, their appeal was denied by both the NOJHL and the Northern Ontario Hockey Association. In turn, the Eagles officially win the series 4-0 and move on to meet the No. 1 seeded Greater Sudbury Cubs in upcoming semifinal play.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The odds of a no. 7 seed beating a no. 2 seed in a best of seven playoff series are very low. The odds of the no. 7 seed doing so in a four game sweep are even lower.
Well, against all odds, the no. 7 seed Soo Eagles are in the second round of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League playoffs following a stunning four game sweep of the no. 2 seed Powassan Voodoos.
After taking the first two games of the series in Powassan by scores of 7-4 and 6-1, the Eagles worked overtime in Games 3 and 4 on their home ice of venerable Pullar Stadium to put the finishing touches on the vanquish of the Voodoos with 4-3 and 3-2 victories.
What made the splendid series sweep so astonishing is that the seventh place Eagles finished a distant 26 points back of second place Powassan during the regular season. As the Eagles had a record of 23-26-3 for 49 points, the Voodoos rang up 75 points from a record of 36-13-3.
And to add a further exclamation point to the dramatic turnaround, the Eagles began the ’25-26 regular season with a record of 0-8-1. To be sure, in a season that started on September 12, the Eagles did not win their first game until October 7.
But that was then and this is now. The once lowly Eagles are off to the NOJHL semi finals, having done so in a most improbable manner.
In summation, there were certainly no shortage of high performance players for the Eagles in the four wins over the Voodoos.
Logan Stawizynski had four goals, five assists, nine points, defenseman Micah Seery came thorough with one goal, six assists, seven points, Nolan Nemecek had 3-3-6 totals, Lucas Caulfield and Anden Marceau both had 2-4-6 numbers and Jacob Peterson posted 4-1-5 totals. And between the pipes, Jace Knoerle made 212 saves in the four wins with a 2.13 goals against average and .950 save percentage.
Eagles general manager Bruno Bragagnolo paid tribute to his team for the major playoff spot.
“Yes, for sure, the boys played really well against Powassan,” Bragagnolo relayed to Hockey News North. “Our players executed the coach’s game plan that keyed on stopping their strong power play and it paid off as we had pretty good success killing it. We figured five on five we were pretty even but we needed to stop them on the power play to have a chance to win. Hats off to our goalie Jace Knoerle who had an incredible four strong games against them. All in all it was a nice win for us.”
HOW SWEEP IT IS. The Eagles were one of three teams to pull off a first round NOJHL playoff sweep, though the other two were not surprising. No. 1 seed Sudbury Cubs took the broom to the no. 8 seed Kirkland Lake Gold Miners while no. 3 seed Hearst Lumberjacks rode the four game minimum route to oust the no. 6 seed Espanola Paper Kings.
Randy Russon’s media career began in October, 1975 at CKCY Radio in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. He joined Sault This Week in February, 1982 and has been its primary sportswriter ever since. Besides writing for Sault This Week and Hockey News North, Russon hosts the weekly Hockey North Show on ESPN 1400 Radio.
- After a Failed Formal Protest by Powassan, Eagles Officially Sweep the Series - March 28, 2026
- Caulfield Flies with Eagles - January 16, 2025
- NOJHL Changes Playoff Format - July 4, 2024
