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Surprise medal for Bantam Lady Wolves

The fact that a pair of Midget Lady Wolves' teams medalled at the OWHA Provincials April 12 came as little surprise.
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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 fact that a pair of Midget Lady Wolves' teams medalled at the OWHA Provincials April 12 came as little surprise. Both had been highly ranked entering the All-Ontario playdowns, capturing more than their fair share of tournament hardware over the course of the past eight months.

The dramatic rise of the Sudbury Bantam "A" Lady Wolves, on the other hand, is an entirely different story.

Of the 48 14U Tier 2 teams that are listed on "myhockeyrankings.com," the local bantams entered April ranked 39th. Their tournament play, this year, when facing Bantam "A" competition from across the province, was typically limited to the minimum number of guaranteed games offered by tournament organizers.

Of the 23 teams that joined the Sudbury girls at provincials, 21 were ranked ahead of coach Mitch Medina and company.

Then a strange thing happened. Games were played, and teams would advance based on results, not on who looked better on paper.

The Lady Wolves served notice early, kicking off action on April 10th by posting a 1-0 whitewash over the London Devilettes - #620, ranked 7th overall in Ontario.

A goal from Joelle Dubois, who held a hot hand all weekend, provided the necessary back-up to the shutout netminding of Kaylei Cameron. The Lady Wolves closed out day one play undefeated, earning a 2-2 draw with the Brampton Canadettes(#27), as Dubois and Kasey Faught found the back of the net.

A 2-0 loss to the Aurora Panthers in their final pool game might have spelled disaster if not for the fact that every single game in this grouping, that did not involve the Lady Wolves, ended in a tie.

The end result was a rematch with the Panthers, simply through luck of the draw, with the Sudbury girls entering the contest with plenty of motivation. In a replay of their opening game, Cameron pitched the shutout and Dubois provided the offense as the northern girls eliminated Aurora, ranked 11th in the province.

With a chance to crack the final four on the line, the Lady Wolves mustered every last ounce of energy, besting the second-seeded London Devilettes - #636 by a final score of 2-0. Cameron remained rock steady between the pipes, while Kaitlyn Falvo joined Dubois on the scoresheet.
And though back to back losses on April 12th, 3-1 versus the Kitchener Lady Rangers, and 4-2 versus the Nepean Wildcats, would leave Sudbury one spot short of a medal, it was with heads held high that the Bantam "A" Lady Wolves made the trek back home.

The 2014-2015 edition of the Sudbury Bantam "A" Lady Wolves includes Carigan Wilson, Sydney Medina, Danika Godin, Joelle Dubois, Jayden Mulligan, Danika Loiselle*, Allyxa Breton, Montanna Onucky, Kasey Faught, Daphne Vigna, Cassy Watters, Hailey MacKenzie, Millana Marcon, Kiana Manitowabi, Kaitlyn Falvo and Kaylei Cameron.

The coaching staff was comprised of head coach Mitch Medina, assistants Tony Falvo, Mark Godin and Jules Loiselle, trainers Lyne Breton and Edith Vigna, and team manager Jennifer MacKinnon.

Loiselle, unfortunately, was unavailable for service at provincials, having broken her arm in an exhibition game just four days before the start of the event. She was nonetheless on hand to cheer her teammates on, from start through to the surprising finish.

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