Keystone Cup 2019 preview: Thunder Bay Northern Hawks

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Scott Ludwig — Leave a comment

Thunder Bay Northern Hawks captured their 11th league title on April 2 when they defeated their city rival Thunder Bay Fighting Walleye in five games. They are the defending Keystone Cup ‘Border Battle’ champion defeating Peguis Juniors in the 2018 gold medal game.

Led by coach Frank Felice, the Northern Hawks are a veteran squad led by LJHL leading scorer Travis Glomba (35 goals, 52 assists) whose 87 points in 33 games played were 22 more than any other player this season. Zach West (28 goals, 37 assists) finished second in league scoring while Carson Smith (22 goals, 35 assists) provide the Hawks with plenty of firepower. In all, 12 players put up at least 20 points over the 2018-19 season.

Hawks veterans holding the championship trophy! #LJHL pic.twitter.com/J50YS5PfFT

— TBay Northern Hawks (@NorthernHawks) April 4, 2019

Minding the net this season for the Northern Hawks has been a two-man job with Jag Arena and Seth McKay splitting time. The 17-year old Arena posted a league best 3.24 GAA in 18 appearances. His 13 wins was also tops among all LJHL goaltenders.

Former Thunder Bay Kings AAA standout Seth McKay played 15 games after joining the team in January. That included all five games of the LJHL Finals. McKay (11-3-0-1) finished with a 4.41 GAA which included league games against his former Kings teammates.