Multiple are the factors that have brought together the young hockey talent and collection of personalities that will represent the Sudbury Minor Hockey Association this winter as the 2025-2026 edition of the U16 AAA Wolves.

Despite that inherent diversity and some lack of familiarity, the team is not just making the best of things, early on, but providing reason for optimism for all those who are heavily invested in creating a pathway to success for the newly-formed group.

Leading the charge is long-time local hockey coach and former OHLer Jason Young, making his return behind the bench after a hiatus of three years, but doing so with a roster of teenagers to which he was largely unaquainted when tryouts began back in the spring.

“It’s fun to be out here teaching again and hopefully, by the end of the year, they will learn something,” said Young with a smile, his team coming off an 11-2 beatdown of the visiting North Bay U16 AAA Trappers Tuesday evening at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

“Some of these kids are not used to the way I do things. That might have been a bit of an eye opener – but now they know.”

Providing some context to this scenario, the 2010-born cohort of Sudbury and area talent have enjoyed a fair bit of success on a provincial scale in recent years. That said, as has become custom in these parts of late, an exodus of some top-end talent largely to the GTHL (Dacey Dupuis, Ryan Thompson, Owen Angus, Cooper Niquet, Ty Imbeau) has shuffled the deck, opening doors for some who may have been bypassed in previous years.

Defenceman Braydon Baronette opened the scoring versus the Trappers, later added an assist, and was basically in the thick of things in terms of controlling the tempo of play most of the night – and this as the 15 year-old grade 10 student at St Charles College continues to adapt to the jump after spending the past three years with Nickel City “AA” teams.

“I am more confident with the puck now,” said Baronette. “I’m not afraid to handle the pressure. I’ve got to keep playing my game, keep my head up and make tape to tape passes.”

The win over North Bay marked the fourth consecutive victory in Great North U18 AAA League action for Baronette, Young and company, and this in a month that also saw the team remain quite competitive in posting an 0-3-1 mark at the Wendy Dufton Memorial Tournament in London earlier this month.

“We didn’t score a lot of goals, but we didn’t give up a lot of goals either,” said Young, his team playing to a 2-2 draw with the Mississauga Senators before dropping tight matchups with the Windsor Jr Spitfires (1-3), Huron Perth Lakers (2-3) and Farmington Honeybaked (0-3).

“We played well defensively, taking away time and space from the other team,” Young continued. “That’s how we have to learn to play. If we learn to play that way, we will be a tough team to play against – and we’ll win some hockey games.”

“Our first two games (of the year) weren’t that good, but after our first tournament, we’ve started to pass the puck more and play faster hockey,” added Baronette.

Nick Christakos (2G-1A) has been a key cog in the wheel for the core of this AAA team for several years now. Looking around a dressing room that features far more year to year turnover than what he has been accustomed to, the shifty forward is excited at the notion of just how quickly this squad has gelled, on so many levels.

“Coach was asking everyone what they love about coming to the rink and everybody just loves being with the boys,” he said. “We have a lot of fun – but we also know we have to work hard.”

In fact, that work ethic is likely to be a primary mantra for the U16 AAA Wolves, a trait that was noted by many an OHL scout as the team garnered some additional respectability in London.

“We’re not as skilled as most teams that we are playing; we’re not going to be outscoring teams 8-6,” said coach Young. “We got pretty lucky tonight. I would like to see our passing get a little bit better, our skating off the puck and supporting down low. We’re doing a lot of work in the defensive zone in practice.”

“Repetitiveness is what we have to do. If we keep doing that, by playoff time at the end of the year, we should be alright.”

That’s just fine with the likes of Nick Christakos, a young man who understands that while displaying a scoring touch is nice and all, it will be the many different facets of hockey that will make or break his chances of being drafted next spring.

“Last year, we were a lot more offensive; this year, we’re more of a defense-first team,” Christakos noted. “I think for me, it will be my work ethic, my compete level, being good in all three zones. Also, it’s important for me to use my hockey IQ. I find that’s a good part of my game.”

“It’s just doing whatever it takes to win, whether that’s blocking shots, back-checking, forechecking, laying a hit, making a play.”

All of which is representative of a buy-in to the concept that it’s team above all else, with signs rising to the surface even in lopsided affair. “When the score started going up tonight, I was happy that we didn’t play selfish and kept moving the puck,” said Baronette.

Not that it’s like coach Young would have any of that.

“I like how he pushes us, really hard,” Baronette continued. “He tells us everythign that we do wrong and everything that we do right. It’s awesome.”

“We lost a couple of guys (from last year) so it means that we have to work added,” chimed in Christakos. “He (Young) knows it; everyone knows it – and he loves hard work.”

“I think we’re improving every game and that was the message from day one,” said Young. “Every time we step on the ice, we need to get better at something.”

Rounding out the scoring on Tuesday for Sudbury were Lennox Therrien (2), Ty Belanger (2), Alex Proulx, Malik Jakubo, Bryston Nixon and Chase Baronette. Goaltender Noah Jyhla recorded the win between the pipes.

The balance of the U16 AAA Wolves roster includes Warner Bain, Jaxsin Chatwell, Bradley Huffman, Merik Maillet, Jackson Mead, Logan O’Shaughnessy, Nicco Rocca, Felix Sapay, Tayden Smith and Sam Whitney.

(on Wednesday, the U16 AAA Wolves recorded another big win as Braydon Baronette converted on a breakaway in overtime (three on three), lifting his team past the U18 AAA Wolves 6-5)