The North Bay U18 AAA Trappers season came to a close Sunday afternoon.
The Trappers, leading 2-1 midway through the third period allowed three third period goals including an empty netter as the Sudbury U16 AAA Wolves edged the Trappers 4-2 in the Great North U18 play-in final at Memorial Gardens on Sunday afternoon.
The Trappers got out to a good start with a pair of first period tallies. Ethan Roy took a puck that popped out off lively boards at Memorial Gardens and onto his stick near the 15 minute mark of the first period beating Wolves goaltender Kalia Pharand.
Then in the dying seconds of the period Preston Seguin-Hutchison's shot from the left point found its way by Pharand to give the Trappers a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The game stayed that way until near the 15-minute mark of the second period when Ashton Pitawanakwat burst down the left wing and beat Carson Ruddy high on the glove side to get the Wolves on the scoresheet.
The Trappers did a good job holding the lead in the third period, as they killed off a pair of Wolves third period power play opportunities.
However, Hudson Goulet gave the Wolves some huge momentum as, with just under 5 minutes left in regulation, he rushed through the neutral zone and split the Trappers defenders before deking around Logan Coates who replaced Ruddy due to an injury midway through the third.
Less than a minute later Wolves captain Dawson Morris took a shot from a faceoff win in the Trappers zone and went through traffic and by a stunned Coates for a 3-2 lead.
Mason Walker secured the win with an empty net goal with 24 seconds left in the third.
The Wolves win moves them onto the Tournament of Champions next weekend when they join the Timmins Majors, Sudbury U18 Wolves, Soo U18 Greyhounds and New Liskeard U18 Cubs at the event.
The Trappers, who finished 5th in the Great North U18 final standings, hosted a play-in weekend which involved the bottom three teams in the league including the U18 Trappers, U16 Wolves and the Kapuskasing U18 Flyers.
Last year the U18 Trappers captured the Great North U18 title in Sault Ste. Marie.
