There are no easy pickings in the Minor Peewee division on the Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League (NOHL).
Looking to secure their hold on first place and facing the last-place North Bay Trappers on the road, the Nickel City Minor Peewee AAA Sons found themselves in a battle, each and every game, winning two of three on the weekend.
North Bay used a quick start to surprise the Sons out of the gate, scoring twice in the opening five minutes of Game 1 as Ben White and Joseph Pavone hit the mark.
Nolan Moxam made things interesting with a second-period tally for the visitors, but Pavone got that one back, on the power play, netting his second at 7:45 of period three.
The Sons were not about to be caught again in Game 2, drawing first blood just 1:23 in as Skyler St Pierre broke the ice. Keenan Burman (North Bay) and Jacob Gaudet (Nickel City) traded goals in the middle stanza, before Bradley Brunet and Bradey Smith secured the 4-1 win for the visitors, scoring with the man advantage just 11 seconds apart early in the third period.
Game 3 would be the tightest of the three affairs, with all of the scoring occurring in period No. 2. Alec Baldwin snapped a scoreless draw, burying his fourth goal of the season at 1:23 of the middle stanza.
But the Sons would once again strike on the specialty units, scoring power-play goals 1:08 apart as Brunet deadlocked the contest at 1-1, before St. Pierre drilled home the winner.
Mathieu Simon was in net for all three games for Nickel City, as the Sons improved to 14-3-5, two points better than the Soo Greyhounds (14-7-3). The Trappers bumped their record to 2-18-4, and are likely destined for a semifinal playoff matchup with whichever team finishes in first place overall.