A total of 46 minor houseleague hockey teams, including 23 from outside Greater Sudbury, were in town this past weekend for the annual Wayne and Lucie Eadie Spirit of Hockey Tournament.
While the Valley East Smartech Spartans (Atoms) and the SMHA Big Nickel Bears (Bantams) won going away, several divisions came right down to the final buzzer – or beyond.
Shane Poitras drilled home his second goal of the game in the four on four overtime session, lifting the Nickel Centre Rocks to a 3-2 win over the Walden Penguins in the Minor Midget age class.
Cameron Buttazoni rounded out the scoring for the winners, with Zachariah McKee and Callum Dolphin finding the back of the net for Walden. Maxime Lacelle ended matters just 20 seconds shy of a shootout, taking advantage of three on three play at the Countryside Arena, as Rouyn Noranda l'Ami Honda laid claim to the Midget crown, edging the Onaping Huskies 3-2.
Mathieu Boutin and Alexandre Blanchet added solo tallies for the champions from "La Belle Province", with Jake Jelen and Jordan Sagle responding for Onaping Falls.
And a hat–trick from Corey St-Amant helped to offset two goal efforts from Seth Marlok and Brett Lafortune, as the Timmins Lake Shore Gold North Stars upended the SMHA Lakers 6-4 in the Peewee gold medal encounter.
Kieran Vallier, Jeff Bonsall and Sébastien Delcambre also scored for the North Stars. Valley East Smartech received goals from Nicholas Lemay, Miguel Bazinet, Mathieu Guillet, Isaac Troscinski, Martin Boisvert and Julien Jobin, and a shutout performance from Ashten Prevost, blanking the Sudbury Timberwolves 6-0 in the Atom grand finale.
The SMHA Big Nickel Bears utilized an equally diversified attack in capturing the Bantam banner, as Luca Nardi, David Pigozzo, Jaden Martin, Ethan Sheppard and Mathieu Michel provided ample support for goalie Jacob Bartolucci, as the locals posted a 5-0 whitewash over the Westmeath Warriors from Ottawa.