Sudbury has not been the only city in which Silver Stick Tournament play has taken place these past few weeks.

In fact, a pair of local AAA teams found themselves in Whitby last month, with the overall experience differing greatly between the two Sudbury entries.

While the Sudbury U12 AAA Wolves won only one of their four encounters at the event, a pair of one goal losses was nothing if not encouraging for a squad that find themselves in last place in NOHL (Northern Ontario Hockey League) standings with a record of 3-10-0.

The Wolves opened play with a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Barrie Colts and were handled easily by Detroit Honeybaked (9-4 loss), but were right in the game with the Middlesex Islanders (2-1 loss) before closing things off with a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Valley Titans.

"We could easily have been 3-1," noted Sudbury head coach Jordan Kuruliak. "We were up 3-2 against Barrie with two minutes to play and Middlesex scored with 47 seconds remaining to beat us."

"Overall, it was a really positive weekend for us."

The 2023-2024 edition of the Sudbury U12 AAA Wolves is comprised of Adam Dabliz, Ben Dabous, Ethan Caetano, Graham Chevrier, Mathew Christakos, Oliver Frantz, Rory Frood, Massimo Gianfrancesco, Carter Leclair, Maxim Leclair, Tristan Mann, Gareth Mead, Andrew Polack, Matteo Rocca, Noah Therrien, Keagan Thibault and Ty Thibault.

The Wolves will see some familiar faces as they make their way to the Vaughan Kings Classic this coming weekend, renewing acquaintances with both Detroit and Ottawa Valley in addition to meeting up with both the host team (Vaughan Kings) as well as the Toronto Jr Canadiens.

The U12 AAA Wolves were joined in Whitby by their U16 AAA brethren, albeit short a few bodies with Hudson Goulet, Denver Mulligan and goaltender Kaitlyn Earl all sidelined with injuries on the weekend of the deeply-scouted tournament.

Unfortunately for the locals, goal scoring was problematic as the Sudbury reps were blanked by the Halton Hurricanes (6-0), York Simcoe Express (5-0) and Toronto Jr Canadiens (8-0), while keeping things notably closer in a 5-3 loss to Detroit Little Caesars.

Coach Randy Koski and company will try and get back on track with a Great North U18 AAA League road trip this coming weekend, facing the New Liskeard Cubs on Friday before making their way west for a pair of battles with the Soo Jr Greyhounds on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.