THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay under-18 Kings were crowned Hockey Northwestern Ontario Branch U18 AAA winners over the weekend after sweeping a best-of-three series against the Kenora Thistles at Fort William First Nation Arena.
Skating to a 4-2 victory Friday in the opener, the Kings jumped out to an early 2-0 cushion on goals from Nate Girvin and Jackson Walker.
After Nathan Vita put the home side up by three in the middle stanza, Nathan Ogilvie got one back for the Thistles late in the session.
Kenora then inched closer quickly in the third, on a Jake Hodges effort, before Mikita Dolmat secured the triumph, to go with a previous assist, at 17:06 to close it out.
Picking up the win in net for Thunder Bay was Kainaan MacGillivray while Walker was tabbed with the player of the game nod for his side.
Another solid beginning in the finale, saw Kellan Ozerkevich and Nathan Caputo stake the Kings to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Carson Clarke then extended their edge in the second stanza, prior to Ethan Rody put Kenora on the board midway through the contest.
Thunder Bay netminder Nolan Meadows shut the door the rest of the way from there, en route to the result and earning player of the game honours for his club in the process.
The Kings will now move on to compete in the TELUS Cup West Regional, April 2-5, in Regina, Sask.
Thunder Bay will join the host Regina Pat-Canadians, who are the defending regional and TELUS Cup national champions, along with the Moose Jaw Warriors, and either the Winnipeg Bruins or Brandon Wheat Kings at the four-team event.
Regina currently leads Moose Jaw 2-0, after a pair of overtime wins, in the best-of-five Saskatchewan U18 AAA Hockey League final, with both teams set to take part in the West Regional.
Winnipeg is also up 2-0 on Brandon in Manitoba U18 AAA League’s best-of-five affair.
The West Regional winner will advance to the TELUS Cup Canadian U18 AAA championship, April 20-26, in Peterborough, Ont.
Meanwhile, the U14 Kings fell 6-5 in semifinal action Saturday to the eventual Northern Ontario Hockey League U14 playoff title holders, the North Bay Trappers.
North Bay went on to trounce the Soo Jr. Greyhounds 6-1 in the final.
Thunder Bay began round robin competition Friday, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Sudbury Wolves, before bouncing back to trim the Trappers 3-2 later that same day.
Jones Kochan; Jagger Huatanen and Lucas Ianni were the Kings’ goal scorers in the setback.
They then edged North Bay in their next contest as Liam Figliomeni and Cruz Obie connected for the Kings in the second period before Hautanen notched the game-winner with three and a half minutes remaining in regulation.
Picking up the victory in net was Corey Cava, while facing 37 shots.
After battling to a 3-3 tie with the Jr. Greyhounds Saturday afternoon, they went on to be edged by the Trappers in their semifinal encounter.
Brysen Beaucage; Jackson Bradley and Kaden Clower were the marksmen in the draw against the Soo, with Laird Morden making 30 stops in goal.
In the semifinal defeat to North Bay, Beaucage led Thunder Bay offensively with a pair of markers, and saw Hautanen; Clower and Austin Roy add singles.
Cava was peppered with 42 attempts fired his way in the narrow loss.
The Kings will now gear up to compete in the U14 OHL Cup, April 17-19, in Kingston.
Photo credit: Hockey Northwestern Ontario
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U18 Roster Announcement
