Avenging a 2-1 loss to the Clarington Toros that closed out round robin play, the Nickel City U13 AA Jr Sons recorded a one goal win of their own in the final of the 1st Annual Josh Bailey Classic in Clarington.
A deflection by Dean Vildis on a shot from Lennox Therrien accounted for the only offense in the championship affair with Sons' goaltender Braeden Thibault taking care of the rest as Nickel City blanked the host squad 1-0.
The Sons opened play on Friday with a 5-3 win over the Ajax-Pickering Raiders (Alex Proulx - 3; Ethan Gallagher, Dean Vildis), making it back to back triumphs with a 3-2 nail-biter over the Whitby Wildcats (Bryston Nixon - 2; Dean Vildis).
Saturday action would see the northern lads earn a split in their two-game set, edging the Peterborough Petes 3-2 (Mason Hampel, Chase Baronette, Logan O'Shaughnessy) but falling to Clarington by the afore-mentioned count of 2-1 (Chase Baronette).
A two-goal effort by Baronette proved to be the difference in the semi-final match as the U13 AA Jr Sons doubled the London Jr Knights 4-2, with Alex Proulx and Ethan Gallagher also finding the back of the net for the winners.
All in all, it was a productive weekend for the local crew that enjoyed some very solid competition.
"We won the first three games; they weren't our best games, but we still won them," noted Chase Baronette this week. "Then we lost to Clarington but all of our coaches were saying we would get them back in the finals to cheer us up - and we did."
A left-winger with the Sons who is welcoming the chance to play with his twin brother Brayden, Baronette stated that much of the emphasis this year from the coaching staff has been on maintaining puck pressure and battling all over the ice, something he really tries to incorporate into his game.
"In front of the net, you really have to battle with the guy to get open and get a nice shot on net and in the corner, you have to do the same to get the pass to the other guy in front of the net," he explained.
"Defensively, when you get the puck, you have to keep your head up because the D-man could be coming and you could chip it or make a far wing pass."
And for as much as he appreciates the chance to snipe a goal here or there - even when it comes after an unsuccessful attempt at "The Michigan" - Baronette knew that in the final minutes of the gold medal game, keeping the puck out of his own net was far more paramount than adding a goal at the other end of the rink.
"I was really scared," he said with a laugh, the pressure clearly now off. "I was just reaching the red line and then dumping it in. When we had a chance, we would skate it back and take our time and play as a team, not as individuals."
The balance of the 2022-2023 Nickel City U13 AA Jr Sons team is comprised of Noah Barriault, Luca Boucher, Nicolas Chamberland, Ethan Farquharson, Jackson Leveille, Merik Maillet, Reid Martin and the team staff of Kevin O'Shaughnessy (head coach), assistant coaches Sean Gallagher, Ryan Proulx and Gilles Thibault (also trainer) and manager Pam Therrien.
With this being the first year for this tournament, hopefully event organizers will learn from their mistakes. Case in point: the Nickel City U12 AA Jr Sons actually posted a better record than their U13 clubmates, going 4-0 but eliminated on a tie-breaker.
With eight teams entered in the age bracket, organizers opted to split the group into two pools of four (fair enough so far), but then decided to play cross-over games in order to ensure the minimum of four games per team.
And, as anyone who has lengthy tournament scheduling experience could have forwarned, the group was left with egg on their face when three teams in Pool B went 4-0 while the top two teams in Pool A were 1-3.
In the end, both of those "A" teams advanced to the semi-finals while the Jr Sons were sent packing, despite their unbeaten record.
