Coming off a solid showing at the Peterborough Midget Tournament of Champions, the Great North Midget League (GNML) leading North Bay Trappers looked a little sluggish only two days later, making the trek to Sudbury and dropping a 5-1 decision.
Still, a record of 27-5-0-1 has certainly exceeded the expectations of veteran coach Guy Blanchard and company, who anticpated enjoying an element of success this year.
"We knew that with the addition of a few of our players, that we would certainly be very competitive in our league," said Blanchard. "First place wasn't necessarily in our mind, but being able to compete with every team, we definitely thought that."
"We're fairly balanced, we have a good group of 2001's that are hungry to play," Blanchard continued. "It took them a while to adjust to a little stronger, a little bigger, a little faster, but we knew we could compete with anyone."
Still, given the decades of involvement that the man behind the bench has devoted to the game in the North Bay area, he is fully aware of what the ultimate end goal should be.
"It's not about our regular season, it's about the playoffs, so we just have to keep reminding them that everyone is out to get you," noted Blanchard. "It's still a process. We still have lots to work on and lots to correct."
"I think our transition game has gotten a lot better, allowing us to create more offense. We've probably geared towards that a lot more in the past six to seven weeks. We just need to stay focused on our game and play our game, and not get involved in how the other team wants us to play. That's our biggest challenge, staying disciplined in every zone."
"The other thing is that we have to stay healthy," Blanchard added. "We're down four guys, and I'm not saying other teams don't go through it, but if you're not healthy and you lose some of your key players, it hurts."
In fact, the wear and tear of battling through four games in Peterborough, and the added absence of Mason McMahon, Kobe Seguin, Ian Denomme and Nick Wojick seemed to take their collective toll against the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves.
That said, the home side deserved full marks for arguably playing as complete a game of hockey as they have produced over the course of the 2016-2017 campaign.
"That was probably our best second period of the year, so we're really happy about that," stated blueliner Ethan Lavallee after the game. After spotting the Trappers a goal by Bailey Chenier, the Nickel Caps tied the contest in the final minute of the first, courtesy of a marker from Brady Maltais, going ahead for good in the middle stanza.
Jacob Burton accounted for both goals in the second for Sudbury, with Hunter Chiblow and Tommy Vlahos rounding things off in the third, as Alex Vendette turned aside 33 of the 34 shots that he faced between the pipes for the Wolves.
All in all, a very solid effort versus a very worthy opponent. "They play their system really well, they move the puck really fast," said Lavallee. "They are probably the fastest puck-moving team in the league."
A fourth round pick of the Sarnia Sting last April, Lavallee opted to forego junior competition in favour of working on some very specific aspects of his game at the midget "AAA" level, at the oversized ice pad provided by the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
"Playing here, I’m going to have the puck more on my stick, I’m obviously going to get more playing time, more opportunities to play power-play, more opportunities with the puck," explained Lavallee.
Nickel Capital Wolves
The debate over whether more second year midgets are likely to follow in Lavallee's footsteps intensified last week, with the Ontario Hockey League announcement of the introduction of a new annual "Under-18 Priority Selection for Midget "AAA" players".
Nickel Capital Wolves general manager Albert Corradini has dealt directly, for many years now, with the challenges that are created, specifically at the "AAA" major midget ranks, following the minor midget draft each spring.
"In my opinion, it comes down to the fact that the excuses we have heard about playing junior hockey surround the "need to be seen"," he said. "I think the stigma attached to midget hockey is that once you are past minor midget, nobody watches, nobody cares anymore."
"Junior clubs (OHL) are going to now have to commit some resources to this draft." In fact, each and every year, 16 year-olds who have been bypassed in their draft year continue their development to the point of earning invitations to CHL camps, just as GNML 2015-2016 Top Defenseman Ryan O'Bonsawin did in parlaying a strong season in Sudbury to an opening on the blueline of the Hull Olympiques this year.
"Once you get into the latter rounds of 15 year olds, projecting under the best of circumstances is difficult," noted Corradini. "If you have the opportunity to watch kids that are a year or two older, an element of that projecting is removed, in the sense that you've now had a couple of years of growth to watch."
All of this said, Corradini understands full well that the junior hockey fit may be just the right recipe for certain second year midgets, who really should move on to face older competition.
"Make no mistake, if you're able to crack a legitimate junior roster and get minutes, there is no question in my mind that playing there makes sense." He points to current North Bay Battalion rookie and local product Bradley Chenier as a prime example.
"As a 16 year old, his game had outgrown midget hockey," said Corradini. "Kyle Liinamaa is the opposite of the situation for Chenier. He was still undersized as a 15 year old, but one year later, his statistics and his game spoke for themselves."
"He was easily in the top three or four players in our league last year. There's a scenario of the type of kid that this benefits." With his midget eligibility completed, Liinamaa currently leads the Rayside-Balfour Canadians in scoring, recording 40 points in 42 games as an NOJHL freshman this year in Chelmsford.
"There are some kids who are just ready, and there are other kids that are not ready," said Corradini. "I just think this is a win-win for everyone. It brings relevance back to midget hockey. I hope that it shuts down the whole need to get out of midget hockey as quickly as you can."
"Time will tell if that is the case or not, but I'm hopeful."
North Bay Trappers
Back to Peterborough, for a moment, where the North Bay Trappers came closest of the five GNML teams that attended the tournament to cracking the top four who would advance to the semi-finals from a field of 23 entries.
The Trappers opened with a 3-0 win over the Cambridge Hawks, clipped the Central Ontario Wolves 3-1 and blanked the Niagara North Stars 4-0 before being denied thanks to a 4-0 loss to the Markham Waxers.
The Waxers topped the standings, but were edged 4-3 by the eventual gold medal winning Clarington Toros early Sunday morning. The Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds finished in ninth, three slots back of North Bay, with a record of 2-1-1.
The Kapuskasing Flyers came in at 2-2, while both the Timmins Majors and New Liskeard Cubs failed to hit the win column.
