CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)
What a ride!
In his first ever press conference when the franchise located to Sudbury, General Manager Terry James talked about his idea of building a team that would eventually establish themselves as one of the top teams in the CCHL.
This year that potential turned to reality. Despite a slow start to the season, the Miners game would take off and see them finish the season in first place in the Canosa Conference, and 2nd overall in the CCHL. The Miners would make it all the way to the Kehler Cup Finals, before bowing out to the Seattle Reign in 5 games.
“It was quite a ride this year and we are happy for our players and fans”, stated James. “Losing in the Final was tough but that shouldn’t take away from the success we had this year. For me and our staff, after coming so close, it will just drive us harder to bring that Cup back to Sudbury”.
That is good news for the fans of the Miners.
On that note, as always with every year end, here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the 2019-2020 edition of the Sudbury Miners.
THE GOOD
· Regular Season Success
They had trouble finding some consistency in the first month of the season, but with some aggressive in-season acquisitions, the Miners never looked back and finished first in the Canosa Conference, and 2nd in the league. At times, they were dominating, as evidenced by their 14 games unbeaten streak during the season.
· Playoff Run
Despite coming so close, this year was a success for the Miners. Knocking off the defending Champion Siberia Ice-Cats and making it to the Kehler Cup Finals was excited for both management and the fans. There is no reason to expect that the Miners can not remain contenders for next year.
THE BAD
• Overtime Record
The Miners lost 10 games in overtime or shootouts. While on the plus side, they still managed to get a point from these games, even winning a few of those games would given them a few more points in the bag. At times, they needed to develop a killer instinct in the extra period.
THE UGLY
• The CCHL Finals
One would have expected the Miners to put up more of a fight versus Seattle, so to lose in 5 games was ugly considered the expectations going into the series. Were they fatigued from a hard fought 7-series versus Siberia. It hard to say and the Miners will have all summer to think about it.
All in all, it was a very successful year in Sudbury but the ending leave a sour taste in their mouth this summer. This team is in a win now mode, as many of players on their current roster are in their prime. The door is wide open for the Miners now, they just have to see if they are able to walk through it.
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