Coach Jason Young might well believe that Sudbury "AAA" hockey would be best served by a singular team at every age group, yet he still finds a way to get results with what he has.

With Young at the helm, the Nickel City U14 AAA Sons posted the best results of the quartet of local teams which attended the Vaughan Kings Classic Tournament last weekend, advancing to the semi-finals before being eliminated.

The host team proved to be their nemesis as Young and company dropped a 5-1 decision to the Vaughan Kings to open round robin play, rebounding with ties against both the Toronto Nationals (3-3) and the Barrie Colts (1-1).

Needing a win to advance, the Nickel City crew edged the Mississauga Reps 4-3 before being blanked 3-0 by Vaughan in the semi-finals. A big part of the Sons' success has come with the ability of the team to integrate newcomers to "AAA" hockey, including Azilda native Hudson Goulet this year.

"I played "AA" two years ago but I have three friends at my school who told me to tryout, because they are on the team," explained the 13 year-old grade 8 student at E.S.C. Ste Marie. Certainly, the pandemic experience helped ease the way for the young forward who netted a pair of goals on the weekend.

"I was practicing with them last year because coach Jason brought me up," said Goulet. "He liked how I played, he liked how I created offense; he made me a better player."

Lining up for the entire tournament with teammates Bryson Villeneuve and Owen Blay at his side, Goulet was thrilled with the efforts of the hard-working trio. "We played really good, I find I play really well with them," he said.

"Me and Bryson have a lot of chemistry because I played AA with him two years ago, and Owen is always in the right spot and the right time."

In other divisional play, the Sudbury U12 AAA Nickel Capitals picked up a win and a tie in four outings, whitewashed 2-0 by the Peterborough Jr Petes in their opener, fighting their way to a 6-5 win over the North York Rangers, beaten 5-1 by the Toronto Titans and closing things out with a 3-3 draw with the Markham Waxers.

The Nickel City U12 AAA Sons managed to secure a 2-2 tie with the Ottawa Sting and lost a pair of tight battles to the Kitchener Jr Rangers (4-2) and the Toronto Red Wings (4-3), finishing at 0-3-1 after a 5-0 loss to the powerhouse Vaughan Kings.

Finally, the Nickel City U13 AAA Sons will look to regroup, garnering some valuable experience despite not hitting the win column with games against the Toronto Titans (5-0), Vaughan Kings (4-0), Ottawa Valley Titans (7-2) and Whitby Wildcats (6-1).