THUNDER BAY – A four-game road swing awaits the Thunder Bay under-18 Kings this weekend as they continue competition in the Great North Hockey League.
Their slate begins Friday night at 8 p.m. as they pay a visit to take on the sixth place Kapuskasing Flyers (1-3-0-0).
Heading to Timmins from there, the Kings (3-7-0-0) will play the seventh seeded Jr. Rock (0-3-0-1) twice on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m., prior to finishing up later in the day at 7:30 p.m.
They’ll then wrap things up Sunday with a return trip to Kapuskasing Flyers with puck drop in the finale scheduled for 11 a.m.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
U18s
A tough go on home ice this past weekend saw the U18s swept by the GNHL-leading Sudbury Wolves (7-0-2-0) in a three-game set at Fort William First Nation Arena.
Oct. 3 vs. Sudbury Wolves: The league front-runners got a goal in each period, including an empty netter late, to blank Thunder Bay 3-0.
Goaltender Nicholas Rocca posted the shutout in the triumph.
Oct. 3 vs. Sudbury Wolves: In the nightcap, the Kings did score first, but the Wolves went on the collect a 7-3 victory.
After Lincoln MacLean staked the home side to an early lead, Sudbury roared back with six of their own to take command.
A Sam Pierce man advantage effort made it 6-2 before the teams traded tallies in the third, including one off the stick of Thunder Bay’s Darwin Brinkman rounded out the scoring.
Oct. 4: vs. Sudbury Wolves: Closing it out, Sudbury slammed in five first period markers en route to a 6-1 result.
The lone Kings’ goal was provided on the power play by Emmett Adduono midway through the proceedings with assists going to Ethan Williamson and Ben Krys.
U16s
The U16 Kings finished with a 1-3-0 record while competing in the 18th Annual Toronto Titans Prospects Tournament, which saw 53 U16 AAA sides vying for the title.
Oct. 1 vs. Brantford 99ers: Brantford broke open a tie game with four unanswered third period tallies to skate away with a 5-1 victory.
Lucas Degroot scored for the Kings in the opening minute of the contest with help from Luke Ritson.
Grayson Mertes paced the 99ers offensively by scoring twice in the final frame while Blake Baxter and Reid McCool chipped in with a goal and assist each.
Oct. 2 vs. Syracuse Nats: Rebounding in their second contest, Thunder Bay pulled out a 5-1 triumph over Syracuse to improve to 1-1.
Ritson gave the Kings a first period lead, then helped set-up a Colin McDonald effort on the next shift.
Extending their cushion in the middle frame, Jesse Ukrainec and McDonald, with another, helped further the lead.
Matthew Koch made it 5-0 before the Nats dashed Kings’ goaltender Carter Wemigwans shutout bid by striking on a man advantage with just one second remaining in regulation.
Oct. 2 vs. Hamilton Steel: The Steel rode the strength of three power play goals to aid in a 5-1 victory over the Kings.
Nolan Grennier notched the lone tally in the loss, with assists going to Cole Witiluk and Kolton Wakefield, that came with 35 seconds left in the affair.
Oct. 3 vs. Toronto Young Nationals: A late comeback bid fell just short in Thunder Bay’s last game as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Young Nationals.
After falling behind by three after two periods, the Kings pumped in a trio of tallies in the final frame to make it close.
Kolby Wood, Ryder Cava and Ukrainec scored in the narrow defeat.
KINGS GNHL SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
