It was a fitting end to a very exciting weekend of hockey. Roughly eight minutes into the overtime session of the final game at Edgar Leclair Community Centre, John Mark stepped between the opposing defensemen just inside his own blue line, made a nifty inside-out move to get wide and bore down the left wing. Nearing the bottom of the face-off circle, he drilled a shot high glove side for his third goal of the game and with it, the Major Peewee "A" crown as the Rayside-Balfour Tigers edged the Valley East Rebels 6-5.

The goal concluded a roller coaster weekend for the five youngest divisions of the Nickel District Minor Hockey League as "Playoff Weekend", as it has become dubbed, provided an number of intriguing story-lines along the way. Following is a breakdown of all five divisions as well as game scores and goal scorers for all 52 games contested over the past four days.

Major Peewee

Plenty of surprises in a grouping that would see the # 3 and # 4 seeds out of regular season play compete in the championship final for the Art Beaupre Trophy, with the first place SMHA Minor Peewee AAA Wolves eliminated completely from either "A" or "B" championship action.

In addition to the hat-trick from Mark, the Tigers received single goals from Liam Scully, Justin Landry and Joel Fortin. Brandon Bazinet and Brett MacKinnon paced the Rebels with two goals apiece in a losing cause, with Patrick Leclair rounding out the scoring for the Valley crew.

In the Peewee "B" final, the Sudbury Bulldogs atoned for a less than spectacular round robin, blasting the surprising Walden Red Devils 6-0 to lay claim to the Frank St Marseille Trophy. After winning just two of 28 regular season games, Walden slipped past Nickel Centre and shocked the Minor Peewee AAA Wolves to earn a berth in the "B" final.

Preliminary Round - Game Results

Sudbury AAA Minor PW Wolves 4 (Cray Roberge, Tyler Cooper, Ryan Punkari, Jacob Leore)
Sudbury Bulldogs 2 (Joey Manitowabi, Riley Lefrancois)

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 1 (Patrick Sivret)
Valley East Rebels 1 (Alexandre Doucet)

Walden Red Devils 2 (Ian Robbie, Brady Ellsworth)
Nickel Centre Flyers 0

Valley East Rebels 6 (Brett Mackinnon-2, Brandon Bazinet-2, Derrik Bedard, Brady Jones)
Sudbury AAA Minor PW Wolves 0

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 5 (Justin Landry-2, Daniel Valade, Aidan Byrne, Liam Scully)
Walden Red Devils 3 (Ian Robbie, Ryan Keenan, Brady Ellsworth)

Sudbury Bulldogs 8 (Riley Lefrancois-2, Justin LeBreton-2, Alex St Marseille, Shane Snow, Joey Manitowabi, Michael Michel)
Nickel Centre Flyers 1 (Brett Lockhart)

Walden Red Devils 5 (Cody Hartwick-2, Ryan Keenan, Brandon Kowal, Brady Ellsworth)
Sudbury AAA Minor PW Wolves 3 (Bradley Bell, Kurtis Clouthier, Matthew Bertuzzi)

Sudbury Bulldogs 2 (Alex St Marseille, Eric St Denis)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 2 (John Mark, Liam Scully)

Valley East Rebels 7 (Brett Mackinnon-3, Brady Jones-2, Brandon Bazinet, Luc Seguin)
Nickel Centre Flyers 1 (Nicholas Quesnel)

Peewee "B" Final
Sudbury Bulldogs 6 (Aaron Dent-2, Nicholas Martin, Shane Snow, Justin LeBreton, Michael michel)
Walden Red Devils 0


Minor Peewee

The fact that the Copper Cliff Redmen worked their way through to the "A" championship on Sunday morning surprised few league observers - after all, the team had tasted defeat only three times in 28 regular season games. The fact that the Redmen found themselves opposite the Sudbury Jr. Wolves, now that raised some eyebrows.

The Wolves posted a regular season mark of 5-14-8 to finish fifth in the five-team league but managed to raise their game substantially over the playoff weekend, upending Copper Cliff 3-2 in their opening game and besting Valley East 3-1 in their final preliminary contest.

So would they have anything left in the tank when it came to a rematch with the Redmen? A pretty decent effort in keeping things close but in the end, it was the league's top team rising to their ranking as Copper Cliff stopped the Jr Wolves 5-3 to walk away with the Eddie Shack Trophy.

In a division that was as equally balanced as any in the NDMHL this year, the "B" championship stayed true to form as defenseman Aaron Campbell scored the game-winner with just over three minutes remaining in regulation time to give the Valley East Rebels a 3-2 win over the Rayside-Balfour Tigers, nabbing the Jim Pappin Trophy in the process.

Preliminary Round - Game Results

Sudbury Jr Wolves 3 (Joe Jelen-2, Wesley Blacklock)
Copper Cliff Redmen 2 (Rudy Giusti, D.J. Hancock)

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 3 (Marc Hebert, Justin Landry, Curtis Campbell)
Valley East Rebels 1 (Alain Trottier)

Copper Cliff Redmen 5 (Curtis Greasley, Denver Ghent, Frankie Anzil, Rudy Giusti, Nathan Shane)
Valley East Rebels 3 (Jordan Connors, Tyson Troscinski, Brady Grenon)

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 4 (Alain Sicard, Archie Ross Scully, Adam Bruley, Trent Mallette)
Sudbury Jr Wolves 1 (Adam Favot)

Sudbury Jr Wolves 3 (Johnny Pavacic, Braiden Butler, Austin Nielsen)
Valley East Rebels 1 (Tyson Troscinski)

Copper Cliff Redmen 5 (Nathan Shane-2, Rudy Giusti-2, Marcus Weitsche)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 2 (Adam Bruley, Trent Mallette)

Minor Peewee "B" Final
Valley East Rebels 4 (Jordan Connors-2, Alex Forget, Aaron Campbell)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 3 (Adam Bruley-2, Archie Ross Scully)

Minor Peewee "A" Final
Copper Cliff Redmen 5 (Nathan Shane-2, Curtis Greasley-2, Matthew Barbeau)
Sudbury Jr Wolves 3 (Andrew Dodge-2, Adam Jeffery)


Major Atom

The Nickel Centre Flyers used a 4-1 upset of the second place Sudbury Bulldogs to propel them to the "A" final but could not derail the juggernaut that is the Valley East Rebels. The Valley boys, with an impressive record of 25-3 already to their credit and still preparing for upcoming OHF playdowns in April continued to add to their impressive 2007-08 resume, downing the Flyers 5-3 with the Toe Blake Major Atom "A" Championship on the line Sunday afternoon.

The seven team Major Atom division was the only one to go with a two tiered format for the playoff weekend and the Manitoulin Panthers and Copper Cliff Redmen proved to be the benefactors. Playing alongside the Walden Red Devils in a grouping of the league's three lowest ranked teams, the Redmen and Panthers would meet in the Gerry McCrory Major Atom "B" Championship.

The Redmen survived a semi-final battle with Walden before facing the Island squad, with the well-rested Panthers receiving goals from Brandon Pheasant and Talon McGregor, edging the Redmen 2-1. Despite finishing in 6th place in NDMHL action, the Panthers were successful in advancing to the International Silver Stick within their divisional classification. Brett Miller answered with the only Copper Cliff goal.

Preliminary Round - Game Results

Valley East Rebels 8 (Anthony Pelletier-4, Brody Brunet-2, Ryan Theriault, Scott Villeneuve)
Nickel Centre Flyers 1 (Nicholas Marion)

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 4 (Connor Brown-2, Jason Bednarski-2)
Sudbury Bulldogs 3 (Owen Fransen, Pierce Wallingford, Joel Lemay)

Walden Red Devils 4 (Mitchell Mousseau-2, Curtis Schryer-2)
Copper Cliff Redmen 3 (Dexter Lamarche, Alexandre Savard, Brett Whitehead)

Valley East Rebels 8 (Scott Villeneuve-3, Dominic Dalcourt, Brendyn Sauve, Jeremie Noel, Anthony Pelletier, Ryan Theriault)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 1 (Jason Bednarski)

Nickel Centre lyers 4 (Nicholas Marion-4)
Sudbury Bulldogs 1 (Owen Fransen)

Manitoulin Panthers 5 (Brandon Pheasant-2, Mathew Oshkabewisens, Neil Withers, Tyler Ainslie)
Copper Cliff Redmen 0 (shutout Kevin Labelle)

Manitoulin Panthers 2 (Brandon Pheasant, Justice Corbiere)
Walden Red Devils 2 (Ian White, Cameron Marshall)

Nickel Centre Flyers 3 (Kyle Scagnetti, Nicholas Marion, Nichoals Jeffery)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 1 (Dylan Cobbs)

Valley East Rebels 2 (Anthony Pelletier, Jeremie Noel)
Sudbury Bulldogs 0

Semi-Final - "B" Pool
Copper Cliff Redmen 5 (Brett Miller-2, Kyle Guillot-2, Alexandre Savard)
Walden red Devils 2 (Mitchell Mousseau-2)

Major Atom "A" Final
Valley East Rebels 5 (Scott Villeneuve, Brendyn Sauve, Justin Trottier, Jeremie Noel, Brody brunet)
Nickel Centre Flyers 3 (Nicholas Marion, Nicholas Jeffery, Kyle Muise)


Minor Atom

A 3-2 Walden Red Devils win on Friday afternoon over the Valley East Rebels appeared to set the stage for a wonderful rematch in the division's championship "A" encounter for a pair of teams that fought tooth and nail for the league title this year, separated by just a single point after 24 regular season games.

Only someone forgot to inform both the Rayside-Balfour Tigers and Nickel Centre Flyers of these plans. The division's fifth and sixth place teams, who combined to win just slightly more than half as many games as Walden, both secured draws with the high-flying Devils, relegating the Walden crew to the "B" championship and allowing the Sudbury Bulldogs to face the vaunted Rebels.

A pretty decent "A" encounter as the Valley received a hat-trick courtesy of Joel Grandbois and a two-goal effort from Broedy Bertrand in garnering the Al Secord hampionship with a 7-4 win over the Bulldogs. Walden picked up some consolation in the previous game as Riley Roy recorded the shutout in a 2-0 win over Nickel Centre.

Preliminary Round - Game Results

Walden Red Devils 3 (Ian Thom, Jeremy Taylor, Riley Nadeau)
Valley East Rebels 2 (Nickolas Godin, Makenzie MacMillan)

Sudbury Bulldogs 8
Nickel centre Flyers 1

Rayside-Balfour Tigers 4 (Matthieu Verreault-2, Zach Thibault, Alex Rodrigue)
Copper Cliff Redmen 4 (Ashton White-2, Zackary Crowe, Joshua Vaillancourt)

Valley East Rebels 6 (Broedy Bertrand-3, Makenzie MacMillan, Kirk Trayner, Nickolas Godin)
Sudbury Bulldogs 2 (Max Whitehead, Brady Courville)

Nickel Centre Flyers 6 (Ethan Lavallee-2, Darren DePaolis-2, Ethan Lamarche, Ryan Rinaldi)
Copper Cliff Redmen 2 (Ashton White, Patrick Lapointe)

Walden Red Devils 5 (Jake Stos-2, Bray Crowder-2, Colin Potts)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 5 (Matthieu Verreault-3, Zach Thibault, Ryan O'bonsawin)

Valley East Rebels 11 (Makenzie MacMillan-3, David Ranger-2, Kirk Trayner-2, Brett Boileau, Anthony Talevi, Bradley Boivin, Nicholas Denomme)
Copper Cliff Redmen 0

Walden Red Devils 2 (Gregory Zarichney, Nic Chevrette)
Nickel Centre Flyers 2 (Ethan Lamarche, Ethan Lavallee)

Sudbury Bulldogs 1 (Kaeden Cronin)
Rayside-Balfour Tigers 0

Minor Atom "A" Championship
Valley East Rebels 7 (Joel Grandbois-3, Broedy Bertrand-2, Bradley Boivin, Makenzie MacMillan)
Sudbury Bulldogs 4 (Ward Kyle-3, Bradley Sheppard)

Minor Atom "B" Championship
Walden Red Devils 2 (Jake Stos, Sean Antonioni)
Nickel Centre Flyers 0 (shutout Riley Roy)


Novice Division

A very predictable conclusion to a Novice Division that provided precious little suspense. After posting a 24-0 mark in regular season play, outscoring opponents by an astounding gap of 218-9, it came as little surprise that the Valley East Rebels Novice crew would run rough-shot over the division on playoff weekend.

Four victories later by a combined score of 46-0 only provided more proof that the Rebels will be hard-pressed to find reasonable competition in the league as it currently exists in a year's time. (Editorial Note: I'm not entirely sure what the answer is but here's hoping that the Valley crew leave not a single stone unturned in their effort to provide some degree of challenge to what is obviously an extremely gifted group of young hockey players).

The Rebels completed their flawless Nickel District campaign with an 7-0 win over the Sudbury Bulldogs, earning the Dan Susteric Novice "A" Championship in the process. What the "A" final lacked in drama, the "B" encounter more than made up for as the Manitoulin Panthers walked away with the Al Arbour Trophy thanks to a 2-1 victory over the Walden Red Devils.

Preliminary Round - Game Results

Valley East Rebels 8 (Daniel Walker-3, Carver Grenon, Bradley Chenier, Kyle Preseau, Damien Giroux, Kade Boileau)
Sudbury Bulldogs 0

Walden Red Devils 3 (Cameron Keenan, Alex Laliberte, Sam Sirkka)
Copper Cliff Redmen 1 (Cameron Mostoway)

Manitoulin Panthers 7 (Parker Dickinson-3, Cole Ainslie-2, Braeden Case, Trenton Bond)
Espanola Knights 3 (Kennedy Sintal-2, Hunter Shawanda)

Valley East Rebels 13 (Damien Giroux-3, Daniel Walker-2, Carver Grenon-2, Bradley Chenier, Mason Blinn, Kory Landry, Alexandre Baronette, Jason Gough, Braedon Bilodeau)
Copper Cliff Redmen 0

Walden Red Devils 5 (Joel Huffman-2, Charlie Dow, Glen Therrien, Cameron Keenan)
Espanola Knights 1 (Jacob Brown)

Sudbury Bulldogs 5 (Ryder Thususka-2, Tyler Lewis, Austin Cornthwaite, Billy Moskal)
Manitoulin Panthers 1 (cole Ainslie)

Sudbury Bulldogs 3 (Tyler Lewis, Alex Paquette, Austin Cornthwaite)
Walden Red Devils 1 (Brandon Atkins)

Valley East Rebels 17 (Kory Landry-5, Mason Blinn-3, Bradley Chenier-2, Carver Grenon-2, Damien Giroux-2, Alexandre Baronette, Ryan Boudreau, Daniel Walker)
Espanola Knights 0

Copper Cliff Redmen 1 (Hunter Lammi)
Manitoulin Panthers 1 (Patrick Snowdon)

Novice "A" Final
Valley East Rebels 7 (Daniel Walker-3, Bryson McLaughlin-2, Damien Giroux, Carver Grenon)
Sudbury Bulldogs 0

Novice "B" Final
Manitoulin Panthers 2 (Parker Dickinson, Cole Ainslie)
Walden Red Devils 1 (Joel Huffman)