Bulldogs chew through Preston International Tournament

It would take some late heroics in the semifinal encounter to propel the Sudbury Minor Atom AA Bulldogs to the final of the Preston International Tournament in Cambridge, but there was no looking back once they were there.

The Bulldogs stopped the Gloucester Rangers 4-1 in the gold-medal game, after squeezing through the previous matchup earlier in the day. In fact, the local just barely qualified for the playoff round, grabbing the fourth and final slot despite winning all three of their round-robin games.

The Bulldogs opened with a 6-1 win over the Toronto Royals as Pierson Sobush paced the attack with a two-goal effort. Goals from Keenan Castle, Cole Goudreau, Atley Gringorten and Dominik Godin capped off a very solid victory.

Game 2 was much, much closer as the northern boys edged the Mississauga Ice Warriors 7-6, with Sobush matching his two-goal performance from Game 1. Single tallies came courtesy of Cole McPhee, Ethan Rose, Castle, Johnny Svalina and Nikolaus Harry.

With one close encounter out of the way, it was time to dominate, once again, as Sudbury grounded the Toronto Eagles 5-1. Sobush increased his tournament total to six goals, with Justin Lancup, Godin and Castle chipping in with one marker apiece.

In the semifinal, however, it was Gringorten's turn to shine. Returning to the ice after being patched up with a compression dressing following a skate laceration to his ribs, the young sniper netted the game-winning goal with just 28 seconds to play as the Bulldogs trimmed the Markham Waxers 2-1.

Sobush scored the only other Sudbury goal, earlier in the game. He would then extend his goal scoring streak to five games, adding two more in the grand finale as Sudbury downed Gloucester.

Rose and Jake Pinkerton rounded out the Bulldogs' attack, as the 2013-2014 edition of the team features a lineup of Dominik Godin, Joshua Stagg, Johnny Svalina, Atley Gringorten, Justin Lancup, Cole Goudreau, Keenan Castle, Nikolaus Harry, Pierson Sobush, Ethan Rose, Zacharie Savard, Cole McPhee, Ben Fowke, Bradley Anderson, Jake Pinkerton and Marco Vallilee.

Guiding this crew into action are head coach Kevin Fowke, assistants Trevor Goudreau and Chris McPhee, goalie coach Derick Rose, trainer John Svalina and Eric Lancup, splitting time as manager/trainer.