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Bantam Wolves crack final four at Reebok Classic

The Sudbury Major Bantam AAA Wolves are serving notice that they may be a crew to watch come their OHL draft year in 2015-2016.
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The St. Charles Cardinals and Lockerby Vikings will meet in the NOSSA boys hockey gold medal game this evening. File photo.
The Sudbury Major Bantam AAA Wolves are serving notice that they may be a crew to watch come their OHL draft year in 2015-2016.

Just a month after capturing the Big Nickel Hockey Tournament on their home turf, the Wolves worked their way into the semifinals of the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs Reebok Classic, dropping a 3-2 double overtime decision to the Toronto Jr. Canadians.

The Wolves set the tone early, posting a 3-0 whitewash of the Toronto Young Nationals as James Colburne, Brett Jacklin and Patrick Musico scored, while Cameron Lamour posted the shutout.

Facing the host team later on Friday, Sudbury dropped a 3-2 decision to the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs, with Jacklin and Brandon Atkins hitting the mark in a losing cause.

The team was back, firing on all cylinders early the next morning, as the Wolves upended the North York Rangers 5-0. With Lamour extending his streak of perfection between the pipes to two straight games, Hunter Chiblow (2), Billy Moskal (2) and Mathieu Dokis-Dupuis provided ample offensive punch for the win.

Facing a familiar foes, coach Barry McCrory and company again got the better of the Timmins Eagles, recording a 4-1 win, in Game 4, behind goals from Colburne, Chiblow, Musico and Joe Cassio and a strong netminding performance from Alex Vendette.

Deadlocked in a scoreless tie Sunday morning against the Jr. Canadians after one period of play, and holding a 2-1 lead after two, the northern boys were forced to overtime, going toe to toe with the tough GTHL opponent through a five-minute four-on-four session, and most of the ensuing three-on-three period.

With just 1:02 remaining, the Toronto crew would pot the winner, moving on to the championship encounter, where they defeated the Southern Tier Admirals 4-2.

"The last month or so, we've been playing excellent hockey," said McCrory. "The boys have bonded together really well, they are buying into a system and working their butts off."

A defenceman throughout his playing days, McCrory has maintained that emphasis through a whole slew of young hockey teams that he has worked with over the years.

"We have the least amount of goals against in the bantam league, and we have two outstanding goaltenders pushing each other to make themselves better," he added.

"When we lose puck possession, the whole team is focused on defensive regroup." While the rival Nickel City Sons have experienced success, on a provincial scale, in prior years, McCrory noted that it did take some time for his Wolves to develop a true belief in their own abilities.

"We had a mental block with this age group, the 2000s, just in the Sudbury area for so long," he stated. "Now they're over that, and they know they have a pretty good hockey team. We just reinforce that they have to work hard all the time."

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