Hockey playoffs are upon us – in droves.
This past weekend, there was a collection of Tournaments of Champions (TOC) hosted by the NOHA, kicking off in Sudbury and elsewhere across the north.
Cambrian Arena was treated to some exceptional parity through much of the U12 “A” tournament as the Nickel City Cubs, Sudbury Wolves and Copper Cliff Reds all shared a goal differential of zero as the puck was dropped on the final game of round robin play on Saturday.
After a bit of a slow start, the Reds really hit their stride in the Sunday morning semi-final, blanking the Wolves 5-0 as Parker McLaughlin (2), Jax Lafreniere, Max Tousignant and Allan Coughlin all scored in support of the shutout netminding of puck-stopper Ian Malinowski.
The Reds kept things rolling early in their final with the Cubs, jumping out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Allan Coughlin and Kaden Desjardins, only to see Nickel City fight back with third period strikes from Jaxson Scarfone and Mélix Dubois, forcing overtime.
Four minutes into the extra session, Toby Anderson would provide the heroics as Copper Cliff registered a 3-2 win, thanks in part to the belief the coaching staff shared with the players prior to the start of OT.
“The message was to be confident in what we could do,” said head coach Frank Leduc. “Even though it went to overtime – and full credit to the Cubs for coming back and tying that game, absolutely – but I felt like we controlled much of the flow in that game.”
Benefitting from a quick start in both the semi-final and final, the Copper Cliff crew simply needed some repositioned mid-game guidance in order to ensure that the end result would remain one which they were happy with.
"We tend to go over three or four things (before the game) that we really want to execute on as part of our game plan," noted Leduc. "If we come off that a little bit, we try and remind them to just go out and have a better shift to get back on the game plan."
Leduc and company had not swayed much at all from the overall style of messaging they embraced throughout an entire 2025-2026 campaign in which the team returned just one player from the 24-25 U11 “A” Reds while welcoming no less than 12 new players up from the house-league ranks.
“Our general philosophy on our team recognizes that these kids are here to have fun and play hockey,” said Leduc. “We try and remind them that we are here to help them have fun. As coaches, we like the kids to feel like they are two feet taller when they step on the ice, so a lot of positivity in our room.”
"This was a magical season," he stressed. "It was super rewarding, as a coach, to see the kids have that much success."
Rounding out the Copper Cliff roster are: Austin Ronchin, Sam O'Brien, Kolton Hulme, Nolan Sager, Connor Carriere, Henry Dutrisac, Jacob Leduc, Connor Peters, Dante Grottoli and Thomas Oliver.
Joining Frank Leduc on team staff are assistant coaches Carey Sager and Daniel Grottoli, trainers Daniela Grottoli and Kevin Dutrisac and team manager Amanda Tousignant.
