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Trappers AAA Roundup - Success at the Big Nickel

It was a busy weekend for the majority of the Trappers AAA teams as they travelled down highway 17 to take part in the annual Big Nickel Tournament in Sudbury.
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Major Bantam AAA Trappers celebrate a Big Nickel Tournament win. Photo submitted.

It was a busy weekend for the majority of the Trappers AAA teams as they travelled down highway 17 to take part in the annual Big Nickel Tournament in Sudbury. 

Major Bantam

The Major Bantam AAA Trappers won the Big Nickel Tournament this past weekend in Sudbury with a 4-1 victory over the Thunder Bay Kings in the final. The Trappers opened the tournament with a tough 2-0 loss to the Ontario Hockey Academy on Thursday night before reeling off 5 straight wins to earn the championship. On Friday afternoon the Trappers defeated their northern rival Nickel City Sons 2-1. Anden Ringuette scored both goals while assists went to Brett Richardson (2) and Nico Laforge. Caleb Sanders picked up the win in net for the Trappers. Friday evening the Trappers defeated the Gloucester Rangers in overtime on a goal by Richardson. Ben Harris and Dominik Godin had the other goals. Godin also had an assist while other helpers went to Callum Craft, Jake Fullerton and Todd Violette. Caelan McAuliffe had the win between the pipes.

Saturday afternoon the Trappers defeated the CIHA Voyageurs 3-2 in a shootout. Jake Fullerton was the hero scoring the tying goal with 44 seconds left in regulation on a shot from the point. Fullerton then scored again in the 10th round of the shootout to secure the win. Laforge scored the other trapper goal while Craft and Richardson each chipped in with two assists. Caleb Sanders put on a show in the shootout stopping 9 of 10 shooters. Saturday night was a rematch with CIHA in the semi final and the Trappers came away with the victory on a goal by Richardson set up by Laforge. McAuliffe provided shutout goaltending to preserve the win.

In the final on Sunday the Kings and Trappers were tied at one apiece through two periods before the Trappers opened the floodgates and scored three unanswered goals. Championship game MVP Todd Violette lead the way with a goal and two assists while Harris also scored two and Laforge had the other Trapper goal. Fullerton, Richardson, Godin and Owen Ethier also had assists in the win. Caleb Sanders took the win in net. Other team members include Keane Koivisto, Will Perreault, Tyler Desmarais, Jesse-James Pharand, Keenan Castle and affiliate player Dallas Landriault.

Defenceman Will Perreault was presented with the Frank McCool memorial award which is awarded to the “best team player” while Richardson was the tournament top scorer and named tournament MVP.

Minor Bantam

The North Bay Assante-Thomson Financial Partners Minor Bantam Trappers were in Sudbury this past weekend playing the Big Nickel Tournament.  

The first of 4 round robin games saw the Trappers pitted against the host and long time rival the Nickel City Sons.  The Trappers would eventually fall to the Sons by a score of 3-2 despite controlling most of the play.

Scoring for the Trappers were Thom Sefton and Tristan Perry.  Game two resulted in a convincing 4-0 win versus the Timmins Northstars in a must win situation.  Scoring for the Trappers were Justin Turgeon, Chase Thompson, Cooper Brazeau and Carson Laronde. Game three would prove to be a barn burner as the Trappers faced the North Central Predators.  

Down 2-0 in the third the feisty Trappers battled back with goals from Sefton and Laronde.  The two teams would stay even through regulation and overtime pushing the game to a shootout.  Kaedyn Long and Chase Thompson would score in the shootout for the win as Dylan Lemcke shut the door in net to seal the OT victory.  The final game of the round robin saw the Trapper team line up against a strong Upper Canada Cyclones squad. The Trappers would fall 4-0 as they were unable to convert of several scoring opportunities. 

Finishing round robin play with a record of 1 win 2 losses and an OT win was enough to get the Trapper into a semi final vs the Cyclones but again could not find the back of the net against the eventual tournament champs falling 3-0.

The Coaching staff was impressed with the overall team effort and look forward to this weekend as they head to Kitchener for their third tourney of the year.

Minor Peewee

The Greco’s Lakeshore Minor Peewee AAA Trappers hit the road this past weekend for the Big Nickel AAA Tournament in Sudbury.

The Trappers kicked off the tournament in a tight match up against the Timmins North Stars. Goaltending was key for both teams as they fought to a 0-0 tie after three periods of play. The teams played on through five minutes of overtime and then into a shootout in which the Trappers fell 1-0 after three shooters from each team.  Owan Heroux was beyond fierce in net stopping more than 20 shots.

Later that day the team struggled against the Upper Ottawa Aces eventually falling 4-1 to the team representing the east.  After some rest the Trappers finally found the back of the net Saturday morning against the Sudbury Wolves. Despite some penalty trouble for the Traps they came out on top 5-3.  Scorers in the win were: Hudson Prisco-Duquette, Noah Dugas, Grayden Robertson-Palmer, Andre Mondoux and Rowyn St. Louis. Saturday afternoon the team faced the undefeated North Central Predators, for another tight game where unfortunately, the team came up short in yet another 1-0 loss.

The Minor Pewee division saw many close games over the weekend which allowed the Trappers to advance to the semis on Sunday morning. Despite another hard-fought battle, the Trappers fell to the Predators 3-1 with an empty netter. Rowyn St. Louis had the lone goal for the Trappers and Heroux was outstanding in net once again stopping most of what came his way including a penalty shot mid match.

The team heads to Timmins this weekend for what is sure to be yet another tight match up against the North Stars.