THUNDER BAY – It was the RINK Academy Nationals of Winnipeg that ran the table, going a perfect 6-0 en route to capturing the title in the Border Battle U15 AAA event at the Tournament Centre over the weekend.
That included posting back-to-back shutouts in the playoff round, blanking the Thunder Bay Kings 3-0 in semifinal action before dumping the Duluth East Greyhounds 8-0 in the championship game.
The following is a glance at how each contest played out during the four-day, eight-team tourney, that wrapped up Sunday.
GAME RECAPS
Thursday, Feb. 12
RINK Academy Nationals 11, Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 2: The Nationals took control early with a five-goal first period as they cruised to victory.
Easton Pitz paced the RINK attack with a hat trick and two assists, while Max Sanders tallied twice and David Ring; Andren Paulsen; Nash Dolyny; Evan Minor; Marko Malbassa, as well as Ryder MacLean, supplied singles.
Four of their markers came while shorthanded and one more was provided on the power play.
Broghan Sutherland and Bryce Dekich were the Grand Rapids’ goal-getters.
Duluth East Greyhounds 4, Thunder Bay Kings 2: Duluth East responded from a pair of one-goal deficits, including striking three times in the final seven and a half minutes, to pull out the come from behind win.
Jax Roed; Kallan Peterson; Rocco Paine and Aris Shervey, into an empty net, scored for the Greyhounds with Colin McDonald and Luke Ritson connected for the Kings.
Friday, Feb. 13
Timmins Majors 6, Madison Capitols 0: The shutout goaltending of Benson Renaud, along with three goals and an assist courtesy of Kohen Zubyck, led Timmins over Madison.
Also finding the back of the net for the Majors were Colton Lafreniere; Hayden Horbul and Bailey Scott.
Pilot Mound Buffaloes 6, Edina Hornets 5: The Manitoba-based Buffaloes rebounded from being down early to pull-out the decision against the Hornets.
Brock Vodden tallied twice, featuring the game-winner with 3:33 remaining in regulation. Also connecting for Pilot Mound were two off the stick of Max Faulkner, along with solo efforts via Anson Salamandyk and Trenton Wytinck.
Answering for Edina were Rylan Miller, with a pair, along with Marcus Swiggum; Jameson Swiggum and Bake McConnell.
RINK Academy 5, Duluth East Greyhounds 4 (SO): A narrow affair that proved to be a prelude to the final saw Pitz lead the Nationals once again with a trio of tallies, and a helper, as part of a shootout win.
Declan McNicol had the other RINK marker in regulation while Eli Wasylyk collected the decider in extra shots.
Isaac Lacari picked up two goals for Duluth East, with Peterson and Servey also contributing.
Timmins Majors 5, Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 4 (OT): Scott’s third goal of the game, coming with 1:36 remaining in overtime moved the Majors to 2-0.
Nathaniel Hueston and Jackson Duclos had the other Timmins’ tallies.
Grand Rapids saw Dekich; Beckett Riendeau; Jax Colter and Kolby Chiodo get their goals.
Madison Capitols 2, Pilot Mound Buffaloes 1 (OT): Featuring another tightly contested meeting, it was the Wisconsin-based Capitols who prevailed in additional time.
Edin Korajac gave Pilot Mound the lead midway through the second stanza, prior to Madison’s Evertt Hoffmann supplying an equalizer with 2:26 left in the third period.
That set the stage for Tyler Rosenbrough to win it for the Caps early in OT.
RINK Academy 5, Edina Hornets 1: A couple of Ring markers, including the game-winner, to go with an assist, kept the Nationals unbeaten.
They also saw Pitz; Wasylyk and Alex Delorme score in the victory.
Notching the lone Edina effort was Stefan Sandberg, who broke the shutout bid of Haize Brightnose on a man advantage with just under five minutes to play.
Thunder Bay Kings 6, Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 3: Thunder Bay improved to 1-1 after doubling up Grand Rapids by outscoring them 2-1 in each period.
Ritson had a hat trick for the Kings to go with solo efforts courtesy of Lucas Degroot; Matthew Koch and Reid Kashak.
Picking up the Thunderhawks’ tallies were Tye Holmgren; Colter, as well as Chiodo.
Saturday, Feb. 14
Duluth East Greyhounds 3, Pilot Mound Buffaloes 0: Posting the shutout for Duluth East over Pilot Mound was goaltender Sam Brandenburg.
Connor Martinson got the eventual difference maker early in the opening frame while Graeme Medlin and Bauer Obester added some insurance in the triumph.
Thunder Bay Kings 8, Madison Capitols 4: After falling behind quickly, the Kings roared back with five goals in the third period to win going away.
Leading the offensive barrage for Thunder Bay were Alex Simeoni and Degroot, who had two goals and an assist apiece.
Cole Witiluk; Jesse Ukrainec; Cullen McCormack and McDonald had the other markers.
Scoring for Madison were Mason Blanck; Gannet Whitcomb; Brady Zane and Rosenbrough.
Edina Hornets 4, Timmins Majors 0: James Fiebelkorn handled every shot he faced to backstop the Hornets to the triumph.
They also saw Landon Sauer score twice while Wyatt Smith and Colton Bang also found the back of the net in the shutout win.
Pilot Mound Buffaloes 5, Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 0: More solid goaltending saw Gage Romanchuk of the Buffaloes blank the Thuderhawks.
Aiding Pilot Mound’s offensive cause were Faulkner and Korajac with a pair apiece, along with one off the stick of Hinata Hashimoto.
RINK Academy 5, Madison Capitols 0: A third-straight shutout Saturday, and fourth on the day, saw RINK stump Madison backed my goalkeeper Brightnose.
Two courtesy of MacLean helped the Nationals on the game sheet as did singles from Pitz; Delorme and Mohammed El Hossari Garcia.
Duluth East Greyhounds 5, Timmins Majors 2: Already semifinals bound, the Greyhounds capped off their round robin with a solid result over the Majors.
Duluth built up a three-goal lead thanks to Obester; Peterson and Rocco Paine, who got one shorthanded, before Horbul put Timmins on the board.
A man-down effort from Martinson and an even strength tally via Peterson put the Hounds in control while Vincet Lamarche capped off the weekend for the Majors during a third period power play.
Thunder Bay Kings 3, Edina Hornets 2 (OT): Needing a win to secure a semifinals berth, the Kings came through in the clutch with a triumph in overtime.
After Simeoni and McCormack sandwiched tallies around one from Edina’s Wyatt Smith, that made it a one-goal game after one.
The Hornets then drew level in the third thanks to Owen Ouska, only to see Thunder Bay’s McCormack go coast-to-coast in OT to notch the game-winner in dramatic fashion and punch their ticket to the playoff round.
Sunday, Feb. 15
Semifinal No. 1: RINK Academy Nationals 3, Thunder Bay Kings 0: After a scoreless first frame, the Nationals’ Brady Piec potted one late in the middle stanza to put them in front for good.
Minor and Wasylyk, into an empty net, went with two earlier assists, to wrap up the result.
Another shutout for Brightnose did his part defensively for RINK Academy.
Semifinal No. 2: Duluth East Greyhounds 2, Edina Hornets 1 (OT): Another hard-fought match-up saw Duluth East prevail in extra time against Edina.
Marcus MacDonald gave the Greyhounds the lead in the second period before Matushak answered for the Hornets three and a half minutes later.
After a scoreless third, Colby Hunter won it for Duluth in OT.
Both goalkeepers, in Brandenburg and Fiebelkorn, turned in solid efforts between the pipes for their respective clubs.
Final: RINK Academy Nationals 8, Duluth East Greyhounds 0: An MVP-like performance throughout from the Nationals’ Pitz, saw him amass 15 points in six contests while also leading the tournament in goals with nine.
This included scoring once and helping set-up two more in the romp of Duluth in the title game.
Beck Van Kemenade notched two markers in the finale while MacLean; Piec; Minor; Wasylyk and Wyatt Sydenham also chipped in offensively with tallies.
Another stellar effort from Brightnose in net for the Nationals saw him win all six starts he made, while posting three consecutive shutouts in his final trio of appearances to backstop RINK to the crown.
ON TAP: A five-game Great North U18 Hockey League slate is on the docket this week for the Thunder Bay under-18 Kings, beginning Thursday night in Sault Ste. Marie.
There they’ll take on the second-place Soo U18 Jr. Greyhounds (27-3-0-1) in a 7 p.m. start.
They’ll then travel to Sudbury for their final four contests.
That will begin Friday as they take on the Sudbury U18 Wolves (15-13-3-4) with a 6:30 p.m. face-off.
A pair of tilts Saturday has the Kings meeting the U16 Wolves (18-8-1-5) at 9:30 a.m. followed by a 6:30 p.m. encounter versus Sudbury’s U18s.
Thunder Bay will then finish up against the U16 Wolves Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m.
Kellan Ozerkevich continues to lead the Kings offensively, averaging over a point-per-game with 27 in 24 outings, including 11 goals.
Behind him is Nathan Vita, who has 24 in as many contests, followed by Michael Figliomeni with 21 points on 11 tallies and 10 assists.
Nate Girvin tops the club among defencemen with 20 points, as he’s tied with forward Sawyer Smith.
Netminder Kainaan MacGillivray sports a 7-4-1 record with a 2.95 goals-against average.
His three shutouts share second in Great North U18 play, one behind the four of New Liskeard’s Morgan Hyndman.
The Kings’ other goaltender, Nolan Meadows, has a 5-5-0 mark to go with a GAA of 3.84.
At 12-9-2-1, Thunder Bay currently boasts the fourth-best winning percentage in the 10-team loop at .563.
SCHEDULE
Thursday, Feb. 19
U18: vs. Soo U18 Jr. Greyhounds 7 p.m. (John Rhodes Community Centre)
Friday, Feb. 20
U18: vs. Sudbury U18 Wolves 6:30 p.m. (I.J. Coady Arena)
Saturday, Feb. 21
U18: vs. Sudbury U16 Wolves 9:30 a.m. (Carmichael Arena)
U18: vs. Sudbury U18 Wolves 6:30 p.m. (I.J. Coady Arena)
Sunday, Feb. 22
U18: Sudbury U16 Wolves 8:30 a.m. (Carmichael Arena)
U18 Kings GNU18L schedule/results
Photo credits: James Mirabelli
Hockey
U18 Roster Announcement
