SUDBURY – The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League announced Monday that goaltender Jeremy Pominville of the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, defenceman Owen Headrick of the Soo Thunderbirds and netminder Brody Wagner of the Abitbi Eskimos have been named the 3 Stars of the week for the period ending March 30.
JEREMY POMINVILLE, (F) KIRKLAND LAKE GOLD MINERS – In both his starts last week, in the first two games of Kirkland Lake’s semifinal series with Espanola, the 20-year-old Mattice product came within seconds of registering shutouts in each of them as the Gold Miners skated to a pair of hard-fought 2-1 victories over the Rivermen.
In game 1 Pominville made 21 stops allowing only the one against with 40 seconds remaining to backstop his club to victory in the series opener Friday.
Two nights later he made another 25 stops and was a mere five seconds shy from a shutout as Kirkland Lake won another close one and held one on for the narrow win.
In the NOJHL playoffs Pominville is 5-0 overall and leads all goaltenders in both goals-against average and save percentage at 1.20 and .949 respectively.
OWEN HEADRICK, (D) SOO THUNDERBIRDS – The rookie Thunderbirds defenceman has played more like a veteran for Sault Ste. Marie so far in the postseason.
The 16-year-old blueliner from Garden River picked up three points over the weekend helping the T-Birds take the first two games of their second round series vs. Abitibi.
Saturday night he doled out a pair of assists in a 5-4 decision and added another helper Sunday in a 4-1 victory to put the Thunderbirds up two games in the best-of-seven semifinal.
Headrick currently leads all league defencemen in scoring with a team-high nine points on one goal and eight assists.
BRODY WAGNER, (G) ABITIBI ESKIMOS – It was a busy stretch for Wagner as he started all four of the Eskimos’ games last week.
Facing a must-win in quarter-final action against Elliot Lake Wagner made 53 saves in a 3-2 overtime win over the Bobcats last Monday in game 6.
Two nights later the 20-year-old from Reading, Penn., booted out another 40 pucks as Abitibi edged Elliot Lake 3-2 again in game 7 to send the Eskimos to the second round.
Despite a pair of setbacks to begin the series with the Thunderbirds Saturday and Sunday, Wagner was peppered with a combined 80 shots against.
In seven playoff outings Wagner has faced a NOJHL-most 300 shots against, yet still boasts a solid. 913 save percentage.
