The North Bay & District Midget AAA Trappers face off for their opening game at noon today against the Oakville Rangers to begin play at the Central Regional Midget AAA Championships which are taking place in Sudbury this week.
The Trappers clinched a spot in the tournament by making it to the GNML finals against the Regional host team, the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves.
The Trappers lost the in the Great North Midget League final three games to two as they dropped the deciding game on home ice last Thursday 4-1.
Trappers head coach Guy Blanchard was hoping to compete in the tournament as Great North Midget League champions, but instead the Trappers come in through the back door.
Blanchard believes his team has moved on from seeing the host Wolves win a championship on their home ice.
“We have to play five teams not just Sudbury, we've got to play all those other teams and they are A plus hockey teams, they didn't make it there because they as slack so we have to play extremely hard and the top of our game and if we don't play our A plus game we aren't going to beat these teams,” said Blanchard.
“They are older, bigger and stronger. We have to play a little tighter, a little smarter and to things the way we can do.”
Another challenge for the midgets is the loss of key defender Dylan Bond, who sustained a season ending ankle injury in game four of the GNML finals in Sudbury last week.
“Sometimes you lose key players and some others have to pull up their socks and help out the team the way they can,” said Blanchard.
Bantams in action
Meantime, the Major Bantam AAA Trappers are also taking part in a Regional Championship, which is taking place in Thunder Bay.
The Trappers open the tourney tonight as they take on the Fort Frances Canadiens in their opening game at 1 p.m. today and then follow up with a 7:30 p.m. face-off against the host Thunder Bay Kings.
