After facing what many considered to be the top two teams in the tournament on opening day, the Sudbury Bantam AAA Wolves hit the win column on day two of the All-Ontario Bantam AAA Hockey Championships in Timmins.
The Wolves bolted out of the gates, scoring three times in the opening period and taking down the host Timmins Eagles 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon. Billy Moskal exploded with a four-point effort, scoring twice and adding a pair of assists to lead the way for the NOHL league champions.
Joel Mongeon, Brett Jacklin and Tyler Maki rounded out the scoring for the winners, with Chad Denault and Riley Robitaille countering with third period goals for the Eagles. The victory finds Sudbury sitting with a record of 1-2, leapfrogging ahead of both the Waterloo Wolves (0-3) and Timmins (0-2-1).
The Bantam Wolves and Mississauga Rebels kicked off the tournament with a 9 a.m. encounter on Monday, with Sudbury holding a 2-1 lead midway through period two. But the GTHL representatives struck for three goals in a span of 3:45, doubling coach Barry McCroryand company 4-2.
Kirill Nihznikov, Teth Wilson-Burles, D.J. King and Ryan Littlejohn found the back of the net for the pre-tournament favourites, with Mathieu Dokis-Dupuis and Billy Moskal countering in a losing cause. Netminder Alex Vendette played well despite the setback, with the Rebels outshooting the Wolves 39-14.
On Monday afternoon, a pair of goals from Tyler Jones would lift the Clarington Toros to their second straight 2-1 win of the day, edging the Wolves after slipping past the Eagles in the morning. Jacklin hit the scoresheet for the local crew, while Cameron Lamour turned aside 20 of the 22 shots that he faced between the pipes for Sudbury.
Wednesday was to be make or break day for the Bantam AAA Wolves, with the team set to take on the Waterloo Wolves at 9 a.m., followed up with a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the Thunder Bay Kings (2-0-1).
The tournament is, quite likely, the most competitive top to bottom bantam AAA provincial championship in many, many years, with none of the ten games to date decided by more than a three goal margin.
An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information due to a statistical error by the tournament organizers.
