Major midget Kings start 2-0 in NAPHL Dixon Cup; minors fall in their opener

ROY, Mich. – The Thunder Bay major Kings are off to a 2-0 start in the under-18 division of the North American Prospects Hockey League’s Dixon Cup Championship tournament taking place in Troy, Mich., while the minor midget Kings dropped their opening game in U-16 play.

Friday saw the majors blank CarShield AAA from St. Louis 2-0 before going on to skate past the Everett Silvertips from Washington State 4-3 while the minors were dumped 5-1 by the Rocky Mountain RoughRiders of Colorado.

In the triumph vs. CarShield, Jordan Smith turned aside all 22 shots he faced to post the shutout for the Kings.

After a scoreless first, Christian Veneruzzo notched the eventual game-winner late in the second thanks to a power play tally.

They then picked up come insurance 3:25 into the third off the stick of Tarcisius Tibishkogijig to round out the scoring.

Game 2 of the day saw Thunder Bay pick up markers from four different skaters in the victory as Travis Hensrud, Mason Bazaluk, Nikolas Campbell and Mackenzie Sedgwick all found the back of the net.

The Kings outshot the Silvertips 31-19 with Eric Vanska picking up the win in net.

As for the minor midgets, they saw Rocky Mountain take a 2-0 lead after one period of play before Jeremy Dunmore struck shorthanded early in the second to put the Kings on the board.

However, the RoughRiders tacked on two more later in the middle session and one more in the third to secure the decision.

Julien Lefebvre faced 26 shots in goal in the setback.

Saturday  has the U-18 Kings tangling with the Arizona Bobcats at 12:15 p.m., while Thunder Bay’s U-16s meet CarShield’s minor midgets at 10 a.m. and Arizona’s at 6 p.m. to conclude round robin play.

All NAPHL contests are streamed live on HockeyTV.com.