Lady Wolves kick off provincials in Toronto

A goal by Meagan McGaughey with just 35 seconds to play lifted the Sudbury Midget AA Lady Wolves to a 2-1 win over the Nepean Wildcats as play kicked off at the 2015 OWHA Provincial Girls Hockey Championships in Toronto on April 9.

Sophie Lebrun had given the defending Ontario champions a 1-0 lead early in the first, only to see Nepean deadlock the contest at 1-1 late in the frame. Playing in Pool D, the Lady Wolves need to secure one of the top two spots in the four-team division in order to move on to the playoff round on April 11.

The Midget AA crew will close out round-robin action with a pair of games on April 10, facing the Waterloo Ravens (1:15 p.m.) and Chatham Outlaws (8 p.m.). As was the case with eight of the 10 Lady Wolves' teams on hand for provincials, the Midget AA squad advanced by virtue of a regional bye, with no other entry in the same classification for this part of the province.

Two of the local teams, however, had to play their way in. Both the Novice B girls and the Bantam C crew survived matchups with representatives of the North Bay Ice Boltz girls hockey association, earning their berths by virtue of playdown victories.

The Novices endured some tense moments, needing to resort to a tie-breaking formula based on periods won in order to book their tickets to the big dance. The Ice Bolts drew first blood, edging the Lady Wolves 2-1 back on Feb. 8, as Avery Robarts and Taylor Yeo tallied for North Bay, with Maija Potvin replying in a losing cause.

The local crew turned the tables later that same afternoon, recording a 2-1 win of their own, as Paige Lortie and Taylor Salem supplied the offence, offsetting a marker from Yeo.

Two weeks later, on Feb. 21, the teams played to a scoreless draw, with Stevie Levesque picking up the all-important shutout between the pipes, allowing the Lady Wolves to advance.

The scene wasn't quite so tense for the Bantam C ladies, sweeping two straight games and securing their four-point series victory 4-0. The Lady Wolves kicked things off with a 2-0 win in Verner on Feb. 20, as goals from Kate Dambremont and Antaya Menard provided ample support for the shutout netminding of Mackenzie Gauvreau.

The Sudbury squad completed the sweep the very next day, scoring twice in the first and adding a late insurance marker. Kiera Lebreton, Jordan Heffern and Kezia Capasso pulled the trigger for the Lady Wolves, with Angela Green countering for the Ice Boltz.

All 10 Sudbury Lady Wolves teams currently in Toronto will see action on April 10, with semifinals and finals in all divisions slated for April 12.