THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Kings under-16 side will be heading to Waterloo this weekend to compete in the 54th annual Gold Puck Tournament.
Getting underway Friday, the Kings will open up against the Cambridge Jr. Redhawks at 1:45 p.m.
That will be followed up with an 8:45 p.m. encounter versus the Canadian International Hockey Academy, who are based out of Rockland, Ont.
Saturday’s slate sees two more tilts on Thunder Bay’s docket, beginning with a noon encounter with the Kitchener Rangers before they wrap-up round robin competition in a 7 p.m. meeting with the North Central Predators from Orillia.
Consisting of two U16 AAA divisions of eight, it will see the top two squads in of each the groupings advancing to the semifinals Sunday morning with the winners there vying for the championship at 4:30 p.m. that same day.
KINGS’ GOLD PUCK SCHEDULE/RESULTS PAGE
THE WEEK THAT WAS
A trio of other Kings’ squads took to the ice on the road over the weekend that saw the U18s; U15 and U14s all seeing action.
The under-18 team took part in Great North U18 Hockey League play with a pair of matchups apiece with the New Liskeard Cubs and the highly touted North Bay Trappers, where they went 1-2-1.
Meanwhile, both the U15 & U14 Kings went 1-2 as they went up against the RINK Academy Prep team in Winnipeg and the Wisconsin Jr. Guardians in Rice Lake, Wis., respectively.
U18 Kings 2, Cubs 2 (OT) – A tight-checking affair saw the two clubs skate to a 2-2 overtime draw.
Kellan Overkevich and Sawyer Smith were the Thunder Bay marksmen, while Nolan Meadows was in net, which was highlighted by the goaltender making a stellar diving save just before time expired to secure a point in the GNU18HL standings.
Trappers 5, U18 Kings 3 – Jackson Walker, shorthanded, Michael Figliomeni at even strength, and Nate Girvin, via the power play, connected for the Kings, with Kainaan MacGillivray getting the starting nod in goal in the setback.
Philippe Lafontaine led first place North Bay with a goal and two assists in the triumph.
Trappers 7, U18 Kings 1 – The front-running Trappers improved to 16-0-0-0 on the season with an impressive victory.
Ozerkevich gave the Kings an early lead, with an assist from Girvin, only to see North Bay notch the next seven to win going away, led by hat tricks from Scott Szczygiel and Jayson Synnott.
U18 Kings 4, Cubs 0 – Buoyed by MacGillivray’s GNU18HL-best third shutout of the season, Thunder Bay capped off the road trip by blanking New Liskeard.
Girvin notched the eventual game-winner, three and a half minutes into the contest, before Ben Paddington made it 2-0 after 20 minutes.
They then saw Ozerkevich and Owen Bodnar supply early third period markers to secure the road win.
RINK 4, U15 Kings 2 – Max Sanders scored the first three for the home side, including the game-winner in the third period, which broke open a tie game in the win.
Luke Ritson and Lucas Degroot connected for the Kings in the setback with Declan Scott playing in net.
RINK 6, U15 Kings 0 – Thunder Bay could not solve RINK starter Haize Brightnose who posted a 23-save shutout.
Kings’ netminder Maddox Boutette was peppered with 33 shots-against in a losing cause.
U15 Kings 3, RINK 0 – Returning the favour in the finale, it was Thunder Bay’s turn to register a shutout, which was backed by a stellar 43-stop performance from Scott.
Cullen McCormack notched the lone goal the Kings would need in the opening stanza, before Colin McDonald and Nolan Grennier capped off the victory with tallies in the final frame to secure the result.
Guardians 5, U14 Kings 3 – Caden Skinner scored twice to cap off a three-goal effort in breaking a third period tie with two late markers, including an empty netter, in giving the Guardians the victory in the opener.
Scoring for Thunder Bay in defeat were Obie Cruz; Jackson Bradley and Nathan Pugliese.
Goalkeeper Corey Cava saw 22 attempts fired his way in defeat.
U14 Kings 6, Guardians 4 – Answering back in the second game, Lucas Ianni banged in three goals and assisted on another in the Kings’ triumph.
They also saw Jones Kochan chip in with two markers, while Austin Roy supplied a single.
Earning the win between the pipes was Laird Morden.
Guardians 6, Kings 4 – A trio of late man advantage markers helped Wisconsin take the deciding affair in the three-game set.
Allister Knutsen clicked twice offensively for Thunder Bay, with Kaden Clower and Pugliese also finding the back of the net in the back-and-forth affair.
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
