The North Bay AAA Trappers teams all congregated to Sudbury to kick off the season at the NOHL Showcase in Sudbury.
Minor Peewee
The Greco’s Lakeshore Minor Peewee AAA Trappers opened their 2018-2019 regular season this past weekend in Sudbury at the annual Northern Ontario AAA Hockey league Showcase. North Bay faced their rivals from Timmins in their opening game on Friday. Results showed a 2-2 tie, as the Trappers faced a strong Timmins goalie who allowed only 2 goals in 27 shots. A solid defence held Timmins to only 9 shots on net. Mason Rotondo and Nicolas Corbeil each had a goal.
In their second game the Trappers found their groove and outplayed the Sudbury Wolves to win 8-1. Graydon Robertson-Palmer and Andre Mondoux scored two goals apiece, while Jacob Jutras, Briir Long, Owen Head and Simon Toupin scored a goal each.
In their third game against the Soo, the Trappers held their own in the first period with a score of 0-0. In the second period, they ran into some trouble with unforced errors and were set behind 4-1. By the third period, the Trappers pulled together to come ahead by scoring 4 goals within 5 minutes. Eventually the Soo tied it up with a penalty shot for a final score of 5-5. Toupin scored 2 goals, while Mondoux, Ben Graham, and Robertson-Palmer scored one each.
In the last game early Sunday morning, the Trappers beat Nickel City Sons 6-1. Mondoux contributed 3 goals, while Preston Seguin-Hutchison had 2 and Long with the other goal.
Trappers will continue league play in October when they make the trip to the Soo for a triple header on October 13th-14th.
Major Peewee
The North Bay Hopper Buick/GMC Major Peewee AAA Trappers finished with a perfect 4-0 at the NOHL Showcase.
On Friday, the Trappers opened with a tight 2-1 win over the Timmins North Stars. Mathieu Turgeon and Jesse Lefebvre had the goals, while Nate Gravelle contributed with 2 assists.
On Saturday morning, Ayden Thomason scored twice in a 5-2 win over the Sudbury Wolves. Turgeon, Davis Anello and Caleb Dawson had the other goals in the Trappers win.
Later that day, Nate Gravelle scored twice in a 2-1 win over the Nickel City Sons.
In the final game of the weekend, the Trappers defeated the Timmins North Stars again, this time 5-2. Gravelle had two goals and singles went to Turgeon, Lefebvre and Thomason.
Major Peewee AAA Trappers coach John Couch was impressed with the good start.
"Our guys played with a lot of confidence this weekend," stated Couch.
"Everything flowed well and they had a lot of fun, what a great way to start, we couldn't be happier."
Goaltenders Justin Robinson and Michael Purkhart were sharp. The Trappers also utilized Temiscaming Shores Puckhounds affiliate Jack Pollock for the final three games of the weekend.
Minor Bantam
The North Bay Minor Bantam AAA Trappers took to the ice this past Friday for their first of three regular season games played in Sudbury.
In game one the Trappers battled back from a three-goal first period deficit but ended up falling 6-5 to their Sudbury rivals. Cooper Brazeau had two goals with Nolan Masson, Tristen Perry, and Royce Rochefort.
Game two of the weekend would see the Trappers matched up against the Timmins North Stars where the Trappers came away with a 4-1 win.. Brazeau’ s hot hand would continue as he would net the games first goal of the game and the eventual winner in the second period with assists going to Justin Rousseau and Chase Thompson on the first goal and Thompson and Sefton on the second. Kayden Long provided the insurance as he would score two of his own, one coming in the second period and the other in the third with a lone assist going to Carson Laronde. Timmins would get on the scoresheet in third period spoiling a shutout bid for Trappers goalie Vaughn Thomson.
Game three would prove to be a nailbiter for North Bay fans as the Trappers set to take on the Soo Greyhounds. Sloppy and at times undisciplined play would see the Trappers knotted at a goal apiece after the first period with Kasen Paquette bulging the twine from a feed from Carson Laronde. The Trappers would score once in each of the second and third periods from Chase Thompson and Nolan Masson with assists going to Ryley Wolfe and Carson Laronde on the Thompson goal and Copper Brazeau getting the lone apple on the Masson goal. The improved Greyhound team made things interesting coming within a goal in the third period making the score 3-2 and with the goalie pulled rang one off the crossbar and adding another chance as the puck slipped through the crease. The Trappers would hold onto the lead for Dylan Lemcke’ s first win of the campaign by an final score of 3-2.
Major Bantam
The North Bay Major Bantam AAA Trappers had a record of 2 wins and 2 losses at the league showcase this past weekend. Friday afternoon they defeated the Nickel City Sons by a score of 3-1. Nico Laforge, Ben Harris and Brett Richardson had the goals for North Bay. Richardson also had an assist while Todd Violette, Callum Craft and Will Perreault had the other assists. Caleb Sanders picked up the victory between the pipes.
On Friday night the Trappers suffered a 6-1 defeat to the SSM Greyhounds. Perreault had the lone goal with an assist from Anden Ringuette. Caelan McAuliffe suffered the loss in net. On Saturday the Trappers bounced back with a 3-0 victory over the Nickel City Sons. McAuliffe had the shutout for the Trappers who got goals from Richardson with two and Dominik Godin. Keane Koivisto and Keenan Castle had assists.
The Trappers closed out the weekend with five players out of the lineup with various injuries. Although they fell 5-2 to the Greyhounds the Trappers played an outstanding game and with a little more luck around the net the result may have been different. Sanders suffered the setback in net while goals went to Richardson and Jake Fullerton. Violette and Godin had the assists.
Other team members include Tyler Desmarais, Jesse James Pharand and Owen Ethier.
The major bantams are now off until heading to the Toronto Jr Canadiens tournament September 28th-30th.
