The Nickel City Minor Bantam “AAA” Sons continue to show well at tournaments across the province, advancing to the finals of the Wendy Dufton Memorial Tournament in London, before bowing out with a 3-0 loss to the Don Mills Flyers a few weeks back.
Positive signs were evident early in pool play format as the Sons disposed of the Vaughan Kings by a final score of 6-1, with Ethan Marois firing a hat trick to lead the way.
Josh Kavanagh, Devon Savignac and Brady Smith chipped in with one goal apiece, while Max McCue racked up three assists in the convincing win. The Nickel City "express" just kept on rolling in game two, beating the London Knights 7-3 as Zacharie Giroux stepped into the limelight with a three-goal effort.
Kavanagh, Savignac and Marois were all back on the scoresheet, joined this time by Jacob Gaudet, as the locals struck for four goals with the man advantage. A third straight solid win as the Sons downed the York Simcoe Express 5-1, featuring a balanced goal scoring attack that included Kavanagh, Savignac, Giroux, Marois and Mitchell Martin.
A semi-final berth was easily in sight as the Sudbury Minor Bantam "AAA" reps doubled the Lambton Sting 4-2 on goals by Gaudet, Savignac, Brandon Hass and Martin.
Coach Chris McInnis and company advanced one more step up the ladder, edging the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs 2-1 in the semis, on goals from Marois and Kavanagh, with goaltender Jake Marois following the lead of teammate Patrick Boivin, backstopping his team to victory.
The loss to the defending provincial champion Flyers left the Don Mills crew standing as the only team that has beaten the Sons to date.
"We held their powerhouse offence off the scoresheet until halfway through the second in a competitive game," said McInnis. "They scored again late in the second and early in the third, and we failed to capitalize on our scoring chances."
Back at home this weekend, the Sons improved to 8-0-0 in league play, dominating the visiting North Bay Trappers by scores of 9-1, 5-1 and 8-0.
The next tournament action for this group comes on the weekend of Nov. 24-27, as the highly ranked squad heads to Whitby, site of the prestigious Silver Stick Regional Tournament.
