THUNDER BAY – A respectable trip away from home saw four Thunder Bay Kings’ clubs come away a combined record of 7-5-1-3 with contests held in Kapuskasing, Timmins and Sault Ste Marie.
In all, nine of the games were decided by just one goal and another ended in a tie.
U18: Great North U18 Hockey League
Kings 4, Kapuskasing Flyers 4 (OT): Thunder Bay let a late two-goal lead slip away and had to settle for an overtime draw Thursday in Kapuskasing.
Ben Paddington and Michael Figliomeni staked the Kings to an early edge, while Kellan Ozerkevich and Mikita Dolmat also scored and saw Kainaan MacGillivray in net.
Kapuskasing Flyers 8, Kings 7: Meeting again Friday, it was the Flyers who skated to the win in a high-scoring affair, spoiling a four tally performance from Aiden Edwards.
After Jackson Walker put Thunder Bay in front, Kapuskasing pumped in the next five, including two on the power play, to take control, but were foiled on a sixth as goaltender Nolan Meadows denied a penalty shot attempt.
A couple of Edwards’ man advantage markers brought the Kings closer going into the third period, but the Flyers struck twice shorthanded midway through the final frame to go up 7-3.
Attempting to answer back, Nathan Caputo and Dolmat made it interesting before the Flyers put one into an empty net with 1:52 remaining for the eventual game-winner.
Edwards did tack on two more after that to close out the offensive barrage.
Kings 10, Timmins Majors 4: Travelling to Timmins, the squad erupted for six unanswered first period goals to win going away.
Nathan Vita and Sawyer Smith helped pace the attack with two tallies and a pair of assists apiece.
Supplying singles were Edwards; Ozerkevich; Figliomeni; Dolmat; Nate Girvin and Owen Bodnar.
Picking up the victory between the pipes was MacGillivray.
Kings 6, Timmins Majors 2: Capping off the sweep of the Majors Sunday morning, saw Edwards notch his ninth and 10th goals in GNU18HL play as part of the triumph.
Figliomeni; Vita; Caputo and Dolmat also scored, while Meadows was the winning goaltender.
Thunder Bay now sports an 8-2-1-1 record in the standings with their next GNU18HL action slated for December 4-7 with two match-ups each against the New Liskeard Cubs and the unbeaten first place North Bay Trappers.
U18 Kings GNU18L schedule/results
U15: Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League (@ Sault Ste. Marie)
Soo Jr. Greyhounds 5, Kings 4 (OT): Reid Kashak; Alex Simeoni; Bentlee Wiwcharyk and Aidan Lane helped give Thunder Bay a 4-3 lead after two periods.
However, the first place Thunderbirds had the lone goal in the third, then won it with a power play marker in overtime to pull out the come from behind victory.
Declan Scott’s efforts in net helped the team pick up a point.
Kings 5, Sudbury Wolves 4: Sudbury skated out to an early edge before Wiwcharyk brought the U15s to within one after the second stanza.
Then in the third they bit back against the Wolves striking four times to secure the victory.
Jesse Ukrainec found the back of the net twice, including picking up the decider with 3:24 to play.
Colin McDonald and Luke Ritson had the other goals and Simeoni dished out two assists. Maddox Boutette got the win.
Kings 10, North Bay Trappers 2: Rolling over the Trappers, Ritson and Cullen McCormack both tallied twice in the romp, with the latter helping set-up three additional markers.
Also scoring for the Kings were Wiwcharyk; Lane; Kashak; McDonald; Lucas Degroot and Nolan Grennier.
In goal for the Kings was Scott.
Kings 3, Timmins Majors 2: A much tighter contest in their finale saw Grennier strike shorthanded early in the third period in what proved to be the game-winner.
Also connecting were Wiwcharyk and McCormack while Boutette earned the victory in goal.
U14: Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League (@ Sault Ste. Marie)
Soo Jr. Greyhounds, 4 Kings 3 (OT): League-leading Sault Ste. Marie rallied for two goals in the third, then capped off the comeback in overtime to pull out the victory.
Brysen Beaucage; Lucas Ianni and Jones Kochan scored for Thunder Bay while Nathan Pugliese chipped in with a pair off assists.
In net was Laird Morden.
Soo Jr. Greyhounds 2, Kings 1: Another close encounter with the Greyhounds saw Allister Knutsen notch the lone Kings’ tally.
Playing in goal was Corey Cava.
Kings 7, Sudbury Wolves 2: Finding the win column, the U14s banged in four first period markers, before adding three more in the third in the victory.
Beaucage had two of the goals while Kaden Clower; Jagger Hautanen; Pugliese; Ianni and Knutsen also converted in the triumph.
Dishing out a couple of helpers apiece were Austin Roy and Ianni, with Morden recording the ‘W’.
North Bay Trappers 5, Kings 1: Liam Desando had the lone Thunder Bay goal in the setback versus North Bay with help from Hautanen and Jacob Chaykowski.
Suffering the defeat in net was Cava.
U13: Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League (@ Sault Ste. Marie)
Soo Jr. Greyhounds 2, Kings 1: In a tight-checking affair, it was the hometown Thunderbirds that came away with the victory.
Chandon Adduono notched the Thunder Bay tally while Jordan Hanlan picked up an assist and saw Hudson Landgraff start in net.
Kings 5, Soo Jr. Greyhounds 4: Another narrow contest saw Adduono open the scoring, then add the game-winner, in another hard-fought meeting with the Soo.
Lucas Clarke; William Jennings and Luca Marino also scored for the Kings while Hanlan added three assists.
Gabe Walker and Walker Klug joined in with two helpers apiece and saw Griffin Courtis get the win.
Sudbury Wolves 4, Kings 3 (OT): A third-straight one goal game saw Thunder Bay come up just short in extra time.
Cooper Christensen played a part in all three tallies with a goal and two assists.
Jennings and Ryder Olynick added the other markers while Landgraff aided in his side earning a point in the setback.
North Bay Trappers 8, Kings 2: Taking on the front-runners in the U13 division of the NOHL, to wrap-up their weekend, North Bay improved to 9-1 in league play with the result.
Getting the goals in defeat were Clarke and Hanlan.
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
