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Nickel City battling for NOHL supremacy

The mid-season "Showcase Tournament" in the Minor Peewee division of the NOHL (Northern Ontario "AAA" Hockey League) only provided further proof to the claim that the Soo Jr. Greyhounds remain the team to beat in the 2004 age classification.
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The Soo Jr. Greyhounds remain atop the NOHL's Minor Peewee division, with the Nickel City Sons and North Bay Trappers pushing to gain ground. File photo.
The mid-season "Showcase Tournament" in the Minor Peewee division of the NOHL (Northern Ontario "AAA" Hockey League) only provided further proof to the claim that the Soo Jr. Greyhounds remain the team to beat in the 2004 age classification.

No surprise there. Last April, this same team captured the OHF (Ontario Hockey Federation) Atom "AA" championship, capping off an exceptional season. This past weekend in Greater Sudbury, the Hounds extended their unbeaten streak to 13-0-1, though both the Nickel City Sons and North Bay BDI Trappers are working hard on closing the gap.

With single-goal victories against both the Trappers (2-1 on Oct. 18) and the Sons (3-2 on Nov. 15) earlier in the year, the Sault Ste. Marie lads were twice pressed to the limit, competing in the second in-house showcase of 2015-2016.

A goal by Scott Rienguette with less than 30 seconds to play lifted Nickel City to a 2-2 tie with the Greyhounds Friday night in Azilda. Christian Omollo provided the visitors with a 1-0 first period lead, with Riley Lavallee getting that one back in the second.

Defenceman Connor Toms scored the go-ahead marker for the Sooites midway through period three, before Nickel City battled back, a nice start to the double round-robin series.

Things were every bit as close the next morning in Capreol as Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay went back and forth before the Greyhounds potted the difference-maker with the man advantage.

Devin Mauro drilled home his second goal of the game, on the power-play, to lift the league front-runners past the Trappers. Tyson Doucette rounded out the offense for the winners, with Chase Lefebvre netting a pair of goals in a losing cause for North Bay.

The Trappers suffered exactly the same fate in game three, beaten 3-2 by the Sons as Cameron Shanks, Matthew Vehkala and Ian Mackenzie pulled the trigger for coach Dan Beaulne's young troops.

Patrick Etmanski and Callum Craft countered for North Bay, who find themselves 15 points back of Sault Ste Marie in second place in the standings, and five up on the Sons.

After dodging a pair of bullets, the Greyhounds were ready and armed Saturday night at Centennial Arena in Hanmer, jumping out to a 3-1 lead over Nickel City at the end of the opening frame, adding four more goals in the second, and pouring it on in registering an 11-2 triumph over the Sons.

Doucette, the league-leading scorer with 30 points (17G-13A) in 14 games, exploded with a four-goal outburst, with Eben Leadbetter chipping in with a pair. Mauro, Omollo, Nathan Palmer, Adam Barone and Toms added singles, while Braydon Lafrance and Wilson Farrow found their way on to the scoresheet for the Sons.

The Soo kept rolling on Sunday morning, defeating North Bay 5-1, though the Trappers were short a pair of starters and both goaltenders, thanks to the shutdown of Highway 17 between Sturgeon Falls and North Bay.

Nickel City netminder Noah Beaulne stepped in to help out, but could not hold the NOHA powerhouse at bay, surrendering a pair of goals to Palmer and Doucette, and a final tally to Omollo.

Jim Montgomery had given the Trappers an early 1-0 lead before the Greyhounds surged back. It seems fair to suggest that the 2004 collection of talent in Sault Ste Marie is the strongest the city has produced since the 1997 crew, led by New Jersey Devils' prospect Blake Spears, and coached through much of their "AAA" days by Sal Lamentea.

With weather conditions worsening on Sunday, a decision was made to postpone the final Nickel City-North Bay encounter. Regular season play resumes on Feb. 13 and 14, with Nickel City travelling to Sault Ste. Marie, with the Greyhounds heading out on the road the following weekend to close off the campaign in North Bay.

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