It appears that Sudbury and area rep minor hockey associations are meeting the Silver Stick Challenge head on.

As recently as December of 2021, every single Regional Silver Stick AA banner that was contested in Sudbury would make its way out of town. Youngsters from Timmins and North York, Sault Ste Marie and the Upper Ottawa Valley rejoiced en masse that winter.

And while the tournament this past weekend did see some of the visitors leaving with extra hardware, the simple truth is that the local contingent earned a 50/50 split this time around, with four of the eight teams that will head off to International Silver Stick play in January donning the colours of the three local rep hockey groupings.

Coach Peter Michelutti Jr and the Copper Cliff U10 AA Reds kick-started the trend in a positive way, edging the Soo Jr Greyhounds 1-0 after both teams survived semi-final drama with matchups that featured that exact same score.

A short-handed tally from Cruz McHugh and a shutout courtesy of Patrick Wing helped the Reds prevail, though in many ways, the man who has coached a U18 AAA team to a Telus Cup crown credits the current state of his crew to a collaborative approach one year ago.

“We had two U9 teams in Copper Cliff last year and we made two even teams,” said Michelutti Jr. “I think that bringing more players into that mix and having the opportunity to play at that level, getting those opportunities to develop, that really helped going forward this year.”

“It definitely made it difficult at tryouts just forming a team. There were a lot of players who deserved to be here.”

And while many will point to the one ultra-talented nine year-old as the key to success at the earliest ages of competitive hockey, Michelutti Jr is noticing an encouraging trend that sees a multitude of similarly skilled youngsters, both on his team but also with the likes of Sault Ste Marie, North Bay and the Ottawa Valley (the four SF teams).

“We are really concentrating a lot on our skill work, not a whole lot on our systems,” he said.

“We’re very hard to play against. Our messaging to the kids is simple: don’t get outworked. When it comes down to those 1-0 games, those close games, if you can beat the person next to you, it makes it very hard for the other two.”

Mind you, when your team allows only two goals against over the course of six games, that helps as well. “Both of our goalies played well and our team is very good defensively,” summarized Michelutti Jr.

Copper Cliff U10 AA Reds (remaining players): Lincoln Levesque, Hudson Bernier, Nash Dales, Malachi Dawson, Ames Desjardins, Nico Gianfrancesco, Raleigh Hysen, Owen Kunto, Bo Michelutti, Nico Orazi-Dagostino, Olivia Otto, Reed Paquette, Easton Saarinen, Félix Séguin and Easton Weiman.

Puckstopper Nicolas Chamberland was also right on top of his game this weekend, recording a key shutout in a big 1-0 preliminary win over the North Bay Trappers and coming up big again in the championship final against the Eastern Ontario Cobras.

Having tied the Cobras when the teams played at a tournament in Ottawa earlier this fall, the Nickel City U15 AA Cubs knew they were in tough in a Silver Stick final rematch in Sudbury.

Dean Vildis (Cubs) and Jacob Thibault-Lafreniere (Cobras) traded first period goals, the score remaining 1-1 until early in the third. Lennox Therrien buried the game-winner and added an empty-netter late while Chamberland held down the fort at the other end as the bulk of this Nickel City squad earned their second Regional Silver Stick title in three years with the 3-1 win.

A fan of Carey Price as he started his journey between the pipes, the grade 9 student at E.S. Champlain suggested that a big key to his success this weekend was simply the mind frame he maintained in the most stressful of times.

“I’ve developed a very strong mentality, always staying calm, no matter the circumstances,” said Chamberland in earning a second trip to the international event. “You just have to go out there like it’s a regular game. At the end of the day, it’s just a hockey game.”

True, but a hockey team against a highly worthy adversary which also posted a 4-0 record in advancing to the final four. “Our coaches were really big on the forecheck because these guys have really strategic systems,” said Chamberland. “They were preparing us mentally. We just had to buy-in to our systems to win the game.”

Nickel City U15 AA Cubs: Rylan Maksymchuk, Chase Baronette, Brayden Baronette, Maximus King, Eian Koski, Jackson Leveille, Reid Martin, Bryston Nixon, Logan O'Shaughnessy, Zacharie Paul, Jax Perry, Koda Peltier, Dylan Villeneuve and Sam Whitney.

Also making a return visit to the North America wide Silver Stick competition are the Sudbury U11 AA Wolves as the 2024-2025 team blanked the Kanata Blazers 2-0 for the win, receiving goals from Nico Brujic and Nathan Arnold.

Sudbury U11 AA Wolves: Jack Laporte-Alexander, Jaxson Andryechen, Arlo Angus, Luca Apolloni, Alexander Brujic, Bennet Gertz, Hudson Gray, Huxley Leclair, Luke Pavacic, Brodie Robichaud, Harrison Trebb, Jaxon Wicklander, Hudson Yasko, Sebastien Boyer and Zack Zanatta.

Rounding out the gold medal winning Sudbury quartet were the Copper Cliff U16 AA Reds, 4-0 victors over the Ottawa Valley Silver Seven thanks to a three goal second period outburst. Strikes from Alex Marshfield (2), Tyler Huffman and Jonathan Tripodi provided more than enough support for Reds’ netminder Brady Toulouse as Copper Cliff picked up victories at critical times after posting a 2-0-2 record in their first four games.

Copper Cliff U16 AA Reds: Jacob Beaudet, Adrian Aho, Jack Bridgeman, Ryan Corrigan, Landen Creasey, Niko Gladu, Edison Joly, Nolan Larche, Harrison Markiewich, Connor Paris, Carter Rideout, Alex Simons and Alexander Wierzbicki.

The Nickel City U14 AA Cubs came ever so close to adding another entry to the locals winner’s circle, beaten 4-3 by the Gloucester Rangers despite a two goal performance from William Ranger.

The absence of local content did little to detract from the drama of the U18 AA final as Carter Whissell netted the overtime winner, lifting the Kitchener Jr Rangers to a 2-1 win over the Mississauga North Stars.

Liam Baxter potted a pair of tallies as the Timmins North Stars doubled the North Bay Trappers 6-3 to lay claim to the U12 AA bragging rights while Brayden McKay registered a natural hat trick, showing the way offensively for the South Simcoe Storm, the visitors besting the Sudbury Wolves 5-1 in the U13 AA final.