Staff
The fate of Team Hockey Northwestern Ontario no longer is in its own hands.
Team HNO, with Fort Frances resident Cooper Witherspoon at forward and Emo-based Luke Judson as an assistant coach, were winless at the OHL Gold Cup in Kitchener after Day 1.
Witherspoon had no points in either of his squad’s two games yesterday–a 5-4 overtime loss to Team Greater Toronto Hockey League Blue and a 4-2 defeat against Team Ontario Minor Hockey Association White.
Team HNO fell behind OMHA White 4-0 before rallying to make the final score more respectable.
The team currently is third in Group ‘A’ with an 0-1-1 record for one point–its first-ever in round-robin play at the tournament.
To vault up into second place, and make the championship cross-over semi-finals tomorrow, Team HNO will have to beat Team Hockey Eastern Ontario in regulation time.
They also will need to have second-place OMHA White lose to both first-place GTHL Blue and Team HEO in regulation time.
If not, Team HNO will be relegated to tomorrow’s consolation cross-over semifinals involving the third- and fourth-place finishers in each of the two groups.
