THUNDER BAY – SPORTS – There will be plenty of on-ice action for all four Thunder Bay Kings’ clubs this week, including one making their home debut.
The under-18 Kings are off to the nation’s capital to compete in the Ottawa Senators Showcase event and the U-16 side will be at Fort William First Nation Arena to take on RINK Hockey Academy from Manitoba while the U-15 and U-13 teams will be in Peterborough to take part in the Boston Pizza Icefest.
Thunder Bay’s U-18s commence competition in Ottawa Friday with a pair of tilts as they’ll meet the Navan Grads at 2:30 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. match-up with the Richmond Hill Coyotes.
A pair of contests will also be on the docket for them Saturday beginning at 9:40 a.m. vs. the Cornwall Colts before wrapping up round robin play at 3:40 p.m. as the Mississauga Reps provide the opposition.
There are 30 U-18 clubs from across Ontario taking part in the event.
As for the U-16 Kings, they’ll open up their four-game set against RINK Academy Friday at 6 p.m.
They’ll then meet twice Saturday, going at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. at FWFNA before facing off Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
The two sides met earlier this month, just outside of Winnipeg, with Thunder Bay salvaging a split by going 1-1-1.
Fresh of their first tournament of the season last weekend, in London, Ont., the U-16 Kings went 0-1-3, playing to 0-0 draws with the Waterloo Wolves and Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs and a 2-2 tie vs. the Toronto Titans and suffering a narrow 2-0 setback against the Ajax-Pickering Rangers.
Meanwhile in the Liftlock City, Thunder Bay’s U-15 squad squares off with the Clarington Toros Thursday at 9 p.m. to being play.
Friday has them meeting the host Peterborough Petes at noon before an 8 p.m. encounter with the Ontario Hockey Academy Mavericks, who are based out of Cornwall.
They’ll then play the Oakville Rangers Saturday at 1 p.m.
As for the U-13s, they too start up Thursday as they go up against the Toronto Titans at 6 p.m.
Next will be two games Friday, starting at 11:30 a.m. vs. Ajax-Pickering and the Upper Canada Cyclones at 8:30 p.m.
They too will meet host Peterborough, which goes Saturday at 9 a.m.
There are 16 teams from across the province competing in each of the U-13 and U-15 divisions.
In both the Ottawa and Peterborough tournaments, quarter-final play goes Saturday night while the semifinals and championship games are set for Sunday.