U15 Kings ready to host 8-team Border Battle

THUNDER BAY – An opportunity to compete on home-ice awaits the Thunder Bay under-15 Kings this weekend as they’ll host the annual Border Battle at the Tournament Centre.

The eight-team event features four Canadian U15 AAA sides taking part as they’ll go up against four U15 squads from the U.S.

Joining the defending champion Kings will be the Timmins Majors, as well as the RINK Hockey Academy and the Pilot Mound Buffaloes, who are both out of Manitoba.

Making up the U.S. contingent are the Duluth East Greyhounds; Edina Hornets and Grand Rapids Thunderhawks from Minnesota along with the Madison Capitols of Wisconsin.

Thunder Bay opens up play Thursday night versus Duluth East at 8:30 p.m.

Their lone contest Friday sees them take on Grand Rapids in a 7 p.m. face-off.

Awaiting the Kings Saturday will be Madison at 10:15 a.m. and Edina at 7 p.m.

Sunday’s slate has the top two Canadian teams in round robin play meeting in one semifinal at 8:30 a.m., while the first and second place squads in the U.S. Division will matchup in the other semi at 10:30 a.m.

From there, the two winners will vie for the championship at 2:30 p.m.

Border Battle U15 AAA Tournament Schedule
All games at Thunder Bay Tournament Centre

Thursday, Feb. 12
Grand Rapids Thunderhawks vs. RINK Academy 6:45 p.m.
Duluth East Greyhounds vs. Thunder Bay Kings 8:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 13
Madison Capitols vs. Timmins Majors 8:30 a.m.
Edina Hornets vs. Pilot Mound Buffaloes 10:15 a.m.
RINK Academy vs. Duluth East Greyhounds 12 p.m.
Timmins Majors vs. Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 1:45 p.m.
Pilot Mound Buffaloes vs. Madison Capitols 3:30 p.m.
RINK Academy vs. Edina Hornets 5:15 p.m.
Grand Rapids Thunderhawks vs. Thunder Bay Kings 7 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 14
Duluth East Greyhounds vs. Pilot Mound Buffaloes 8:30 a.m.
Thunder Bay Kings vs. Madison Capitols 10:15 a.m.
Timmins Majors vs. Edina Hornets 12 p.m.
Pilot Mound Buffaloes vs. Grand Rapids Thunderhawks 1:45 p.m.
Madison Capitols vs. RINK Academy 3:30 p.m.
Duluth East Greyhounds vs. Timmins Majors 5:15 p.m.
Edina Hornets vs. Thunder Bay Kings 7 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 15
CAN semifinal: 2nd round robin vs. 1st round robin 8:30 a.m.
USA semifinal: 2nd round robin vs. 1st round robin 10:30 a.m.
Final: CAN semifinal winner vs. USA semifinal winner 2:30 p.m.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

The U15 Kings will enter the Border Battle on a nice roll after coming away victorious in all four of their Northern Ontario Hockey League contests in Sturgeon Falls.

Thunder Bay’s U14s also had a solid weekend, collecting a trio of victories, in four outings, at the same venue.

Meanwhile, the U13 Kings were competitive in nearby Verner, Ont., but came up just short, finishing at 0-3-1.

As for the U18 team, they went 2-2 in a four-pack of Great North U18 Hockey League contests in Sudbury.

U15

Kings 9, Timmins Majors 2 – Ryder Milani tallied three times, including notching the game-winner, and dished out an assist to help pace Thunder Bay offensively.

Cullen McCormack chipped in with two goals in the triumph while Braeden Tenhunen; Bentlee Wiwcharyk; Alex Simeoni and Luke Ritson supplied singles.

Lucas Degrott dished out a pair of assists and Maddox Boutette picked up the win in net.

Kings 1, Sudbury Wolves 0 – Riding the shutout goaltending of Declan Scott, they secured the low-scoring result.

McCormack record the lone goal in the contest with a second period power play effort with help from Milani and Ritson.

Kings 2, North Bay Trappers 1 (OT) – Thunder Bay picked up a dramatic decider as Wiwcharyk clicked on a man advantage with 41 seconds remaining in overtime.

Ritson gave the Kings the lead in the opening frame before the Trappers tied it while up a skater in the back half of the third to send it to extra time.

Boutette was solid, allowing just the one against in earning another victory.

Kings 2, Soo Jr. Greyhounds 0 – Scott was unbeatable once again in posting his second-straight shutout of the weekend.

After a scoreless first, Milani potted his second game-winner in the middle stanza before Nolan Grennier added some insurance in the final frame.

U14

North Bay Trappers 5, Kings 2 – Garrett Tran led North Bay with four assists in the victory.

Liam Figliomeni and Lucas Ianni were the Thunder Bay marksmen in the setback with Laird Morden between the pipes for the Kings.

Kings 4, North Bay Trappers 1 – Rebounding against the Trappers, a three-goal first helped propel them to the decision.

Liam Desando began the early outburst followed by later efforts off the sticks of Kaden Clower and Ianni.

They then got an insurance effort courtesy of Bryson Beaucage to help determine the outcome. Corey Cava was solid in earning the win.

Kings 4, Sudbury Wolves 3 – A four-goal second stanza paved the way to a Thunder Bay victory.

Cruz Obie opened the scoring for the club and later doled out a couple of the helpers in the triumph.

Also finding the back of the net were Desando; Nathan Pugliese and Allister Knutsen. 

You also had Ianni set-up two of the tallies while Morden got the win in net.

Kings 4, Soo Jr. Greyhounds 3 – After falling behind early, goals from Pugliese and Jagger Hautenen helped knot the affair at 2-2 through two periods.

Jones Kochan then potted one in the third before Sault Ste. Marie tied it, only to see Beaucage collect the decider with under five minutes remaining in regulation.

Ianni continued his stellar play with two more assists and picking up the ‘W’ was Cava.

U13

North Bay Trappers 5, Kings 2 – A tough start against the first place Trappers saw Emmett Clugston guide North Bay with a hat trick.

Cooper Christenson provided both goals for the Kings. 

North Bay Trappers 6, Kings 3 – North Bay got tallies from six different skaters as they improved to a NOHL-best 9-2-1 in the U13 AAA division.

Scoring for Thunder Bay were William Jennings; Lucas Clarke and Chandon Adduono.

Sudbury Wolves, 7 Kings 3 – A three-tally night from Karson Ferguson led Sudbury to the result.

Markers from Jordan Hanlon; Adduono and Christensen chipped in offensively for the Kings while Luca Marino provided two assists.

Soo Jr. Greyhounds 3, Kings 2 (OT) – Picking up a point in the defeat, Christensen forced overtime with a late equalizer before the Soo eventually prevailed.

Adduono had the other Kings goal while Hudson Landgraff and Griffin Courtis split the netminding duties over the weekend.

U18

Kings 3, Sudbury U16 Wolves 2 (OT) – Ben Paddington, at even strength, and Sawyer Smith, while shorthanded, had the Thunder Bay tallies in regulation.

They the saw defenceman Nate Girvin hammer in the game-winner, via the power play, a minute into overtime.

Earning the win in net was Kainaan MacGillivray.

Kings 4, Sudbury U18 Wolves 3 (OT) – Rebounding from a pair of two-goal deficits, the Kings roared back to win in extra time for a second-straight outing.

Nathan Vita started the comeback while Michael Figliomeni and then Aiden Edwards with 47 seconds left in the third helped send it to OT.

There, Edwards capped off the comeback 98 seconds into the session.

Netminder Nolan Meadows did his part to earn the victory.

Sudbury U16 Wolves 5, Kings 2 – The U16 Wolves struck three times on the power play to propel them to the triumph.

Vita and Owen Bodnar picked up the markers for Thunder Bay while MacGillivray suffered the defeat.

Sudbury U18 Wolves 4, Kings 2 – Denver Mulligan connected twice and aided on another in Sudbury’s decision over the Kings.

Mikita Dolmat and Paddington did score in the loss, with Meadows manning the net.

Photo credit: James Mirabelli