Fifty-six of the top U15 AA girls hockey teams in North America gathered a few weekends back, attending the Stoney Creek Sabres Showcase and, to their credit, the Sudbury U15 AA Lady Wolves showed that they were more than capable with the best of the best.

They may not have realized it at the time but a 2-1 opening game loss to Chicago Mission in game one was quite the feather in their cap, with Sadie Frantz netting the lone Sudbury goal and Kloe Rienguette standing tall between the pipes.

Chicago would go on to lay claim to the entire tournament, closing out round robin play with victories by scores of 6-0, 5-0 and 5-3 before capturing a pair of close encounters on Sunday, 2-1 over the Mississauga Hurricanes (SF) and 1-0 over the Durham West Lightning in their gold medal affair.

As for the locals, they brushed themselves off quickly on Friday to register a thrilling 3-2 win over Team Illinois as Sophie Gauld netted her second goal of the game with just 14 seconds to play for the win.

Lia Gallo rounded out the scoring for the Lady Wolves with Keanna Navarro picking up the win as the last line of defense for the northern crew.

Hitting their stride, the SDGHA reps bounced the London Devilettes 3-1 (Sophie Gauld - Hannah Adler - Ella Sabourin) and trounced the Windsor Wildcats 5-0 (Gauld with a pair - Gallo - Sabourin - Frantz; Navarro with the shutout) to earn their place as the sixth ranked team in the Brass Division grouping of eight (effectively #13 overall - despite facing the best team in the tournament in round robin play).

A nice blend of offense and defense would lead the Sudbury girls past the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite as Sophie Gauld was joined on the scoresheet by Maelle White, while Rienguette stopped everything that came her way at the other end of the rink.

The Brass final was a thrilling affair as the Lady Wolves fell just short, dropping a 3-2 to the CT (Connecticut) Junior Rangers as Ella Sabourin found the back of the net twice for head coach Eric Navarro and company.

Rounding out the 2024-2025 roster for the Sudbury U15 AA Lady Wolves are Alyssa Bryant, Trinity Cheechoo, May Corson, Daviy Dale, Raina Gauthier, Kahlan Judd, Audrey McKinnon, Ryan Snow and Paige Taylor.