The Sudbury U16 AAA Wolves solidified their hold on third place in the Great North U18 AAA League, recording a pair of very solid wins over the Soo U16 AAA Greyhounds at the Gerry McCrory Sports Complex this past weekend.

Scoring in bunches, albeit at different points of the game, proved highly effective for head coach Jason Young and company as the U16 AAA Wolves bumped their season record to 15-5-1-3 (34 pts), just one point back of the Soo U18 AAA Greyhounds, though the latter now hold three games in hand.

On Saturday, Sudbury netted three goals in a span of just over three minutes midway through period one, cruising to a 5-1 win over their rivals to the west. Alex Proulx, Tayden Smith and Ty Belanger scored in rapid succession, with Felix Sapay and Mérik Maillet adding some insurance after Benjamin McKinlay put the Hounds on the board in the middle stanza.

Trailing 1-0 after the opening frame on Sunday, the locals erupted for a quartet of second period tallies, completing the weekend sweep with a 6-2 score-line as six different Sudbury players found the back of the net.

Malik Jakubo, Tayden Smith, Bradley Huffman, Nicholas Christakos, Felix Sapay and Jackson Mead all scored after Gage Guzzo gave the visitors an early lead, with David Francella adding the remaining marker for Sault Ste Marie.

The U16 AAA Wolves are heading to Timmins for a two game set next weekend against the Majors before participating in the Steve Richey Tournament of Champions from January 15th to the 18th.

The locals are set for preliminary round games against the Guelph Jr Gryphons, Chatham-Kent Cyclones, Waterloo Wolves and Southern Tier Admirals before resuming league play later this month.

Given that the victories over SSM were the first outings for the U16 AAA Wolves since December 21st, just hitting the ground running was a huge key for the Sudbury crew.

"After the break, you know you're a bit rusty," noted Bradley Huffman, one of a dozen players on his team to surpass the ten point plateau. "We haven't been on the ice in a while, so we focused on working hard, taking away time and space, stuff like that to get back into it."

Part of a different looking team from the 2024-2025, Huffman recognizes that the keys to the success for the 2025-2026 version resembles only slightly the previous year's squad.

"We're not going to score as many goals this year so putting pressure on the other team, laying the body, that's what makes us good," said Huffman.