Sudbury Wolves
Voyageurs Varsity Athletics
Trevella SportsCaruso Club
Gold in Grandby eludes U14 AAA Wolves
2024-02-23

Another championship game visit for the Sudbury U14 AAA Wolves, having returned from the Tournoi International de Hockey Bantam de Granby with silver medals in hand following a very busy stretch of games.

The locals opened with a high-scoring affair, playing to a 6-6 draw with the Dynamiques du Collège Charles-Lemoyne as Cooper Niquet recorded the hat trick while linemate Dacey Dupuis picked up a goal and three assists. Seth Verbiwski and Jackson Mead also found the back of the net for the Wolves, who hit the win column in a 4-3 game two encounter with les Estacades de la Mauricie.

Seth Verbiwski netted his second goal of the game late in the third to propel his team to victory while Nicholas Christakos and Dacey Dupuis rounded out the scoring. The Wolves remained unbeaten thanks to a 5-2 victory over the Nord-Cotiers (Niquet, Mead, Verbiewski, Dupuis and Ty Belanger) but needed overtime to vanquish the Albatross BSL (Bas-St-Laurent) 2-1 in semi-final action.

A first period marker by Dacey Dupuis was offset in the second as Francois Dufresne fired the only puck that would elude Wolves’ netminder Nicholas Rocca, setting the stage for a game-winning tally from Tayden Smith.

Facing the Rocket Jr de Laval in the gold medal game, Sudbury was locked in a 2-2 tie (Seth Verbiwski, Cooper Niquet) until late in the third when Maxime Vorobiev netted the clincher for Laval.

In addition to their tournament games, the team also booked a pre-event exhibition match with Hartford at the CN Sports Complex in Brossord, training/practice facility of the Montreal Canadiens.

The local lads were able to catch a pair of injured NHLers completing on-ice rehabilitation while at the venue

"This team just keeps improving," noted head coach Gerry Dupuis. "Throughout the weekend, we used players in different situations and they all showed well."

With the Sudbury U14 AAA crew languishing with a regular season schedule which includes only the Soo Jr Greyhounds (Wolves have won 17 straight against their only NOHL opposition), the coaching staff were thrilled to offer not only some new adversaries, but ones which tend to favour a much more skill-based wide open style of hockey.

Rounding out the U14 AAA Wolves roster for the Grandy tournament were goaltender Ty Imbeau as well as Owen Angus, Ezio Cusinato, Greyson Hnatiuk, Warner Bain, Zacharie Paul, Bradley Huffman, Ryan Thompson, Malik Jakubo and affiliated call-up Jackson Leveillé.

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