Almost every weekend, from mid-September through until the
end of March, at least one Greater Sudbury sports team will
make the trek south of Barrie to find tournament play that
provides good, solid competition.
This past weekend the entire entourage of Sudbury Lady Wolves
rep hockey teams, 10 squads strong, running the gamut from
Novice to Intermediate, invaded the
Oshawa-Bowmanville-Clarington area for Applefest 2008.
One can rest assured that this fall excursion may indeed become
a staple of the Sudbury girls hockey calendar.
Leading the convoy of gold medal winning teams was the youngest
of the local representatives as the Novice B Lady Wolves
blanked the Whitby Wolves 2-0 in the final to emerge victorious
in the four-team competition.
Tiana Verbiwski and Lauren Hancock netted goals for coach Mark
Gobbo and staff, while Alisa Hitchen, a relative newcomer to
netminding, recorded the shutout for the Novices. The
championship final win marked the second straight victory for
the squad, which opened with ties against both Whitby (1-1) and
Kitchener (2-2) before slipping past Oshawa (5-4).
The winning trend continued at the Atom A level as Taylor
McGaughey and Brooke Kennedy supplied the scoring punch in a
2-1 banner-winning victory over the Windsor Wildcats. Playing
in a six-team grouping, the Sudbury Atom A ladies sandwiched
shutout wins over Belleville (4-0) and Whitby (7-0) around a
2-2 draw with Aurora en route to the final.
The championship troika was rounded out by the Peewee B Lady
Wolves who found themselves opposite
Northern Ontario rival North Bay Ice Boltz with everything on
the line Sunday afternoon. Kathleen Bertuzzi chalked up the
only goal the locals would need while Alexi Kennedy turned
aside everything the Boltz could send her way as Sudbury
blanked North Bay 1-0.
The Peewee B girls secured first place in one of two six-team
pools with wins over North Halton (7-0) and Cambridge (2-1)
combined with a 2-2 tie with Oakville while North Bay looked
perhaps even more impressive, outscoring their opposition 21-0
in three preliminary round games before the Lady Wolves came
a-callin'.
Sudbury 80s Tournament
More success for local teams, albeit much, much closer to home
as the 22nd edition of the Sudbury 80s Tournament was staged at
both the Carmichael and Countryside Arenas over the weekend.
The event, which gathered a total of 18 teams in three
divisions, owes its humble beginnings to the work of former
minor hockey volunteers Herve Tremblay, Wayne Jermyn and Moe
Poitras more than two decades ago.
Now under the stewardship of Jim Keyes and a dedicated group of
helpers, the tournament crowned three champions from the
Greater Sudbury region, with just one trophy heading south to
Newmarket.
The Midget final was an all-Nickel District affair as Dave
Poulin netted a pair of goals to lead SMHA Capital Drilling to
a 5-1 win over the Copper Cliff Redmen. Chris Fisch, Jason
Baader and Matthew Spina rounded out the scoring for the
winners while Matt Keetch spoiled the shutout bid of Drilling
goaltender Michael Fabris, scoring with less than three minutes
remaining.
A far more exciting Minor Bantam "AA" final as Riley Lefrancois
drilled the game-winning goal late in the second period to push
the SMHA Bulldogs past the Walden Devils 2-1. John Mark
(Walden) and Eric Landry (Bulldogs) had traded first period
goals as netminder Jean-Marc Desormeux picked up the win
between the pipes.
Equally close in the Minor Bantam "A" championship encounter as
Jacob Smith scores twice to lead the Valley East Rebels past
West Ferris Source for Sports 3-2. Mathieu Marion added the
remaining Valley East marker while Jake Staples replied with a
two-goal effort in a losing cause.
And finally, the Major Bantam "AA" hardware was awarded to the
Newmarket Redmen who downed Goulding Park 4-1 in the final,
receiving goals from four different players en route to the
win.
James Campsall, Nathanial Jessop, Eric Daechsel and Kurtis
Millar all found the back of the net for the Redmen while
Matthew Pepler converted on the power-play late in the first to
provide the only scoring for the Toronto crew.
Randy Pascal is the voice of Persona 10 Sports and the founder of SudburySports.com.
