THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Kings completed their sixth round of competition in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) over the weekend.
Here’s a recap as to how each of the clubs fared in their respective four-game slates.
U13: Collecting a pair of ties, and a couple of setbacks, the under-13 Kings went 0-2-2 in GTHL action.
Thunder Bay began with a 4-4 draw against the Mississauga Senators, after they battled back from a couple of two-goal deficits to take the lead, only to see the Sens supply a late equalizer with 80 seconds remaining.
Brady Nash paced the squad with two goals, while Cooper Disher and Gavin Godick supplied singles.
Goaltender Kainaan Macgillivray turned in a solid performance in net.
Next came a 5-3 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Titans with Owen Trevisanutto, Felix Sapay and Disher scoring for the Kings, while Carter Johnson suffered the defeat.
A 2-2 tie versus the Don Mills Flyers came next, with Macgillivray helping his side earn a point.
Notching the markers were Emmett Adduono and Cristian Ianni.
The then finished up by falling 5-2 to the Reps Hockey Club, while seeing Jace Voortman and Godick find the back of the net.
U15: Competitive in each contest, the U15 Kings came away with a 1-2-1 mark.
They dropped their initial match-up 3-1, including giving up a late empty-netter, to the Toronto Young Nationals.
Landyn Paquette scored for Thunder Bay with a crisp one-timer off a feed from Mitch Smith.
Goalkeeper Brady Cates made 27 stops in the game.
They then drew 1-1 with the Mississauga Senators and saw Jeremy Hutchison bang-in a Lucas Garatti rebound in the second period to account for the Thunder Bay tally.
The efforts of netminder Charlie Weiss were solid as he finished with 26 stops.
Following that up, the U15s skated to a hard-fought 2-1 victory against the Don Mills Flyers.
Evan Simeoni gave the Kings the lead while Reggie Taylor provided the game-winner.
Cates was also consistent once more, finishing with 32 shots fired his way in the triumph.
A tough 2-1 loss at the hands to the Reps put a damper in rounding out the sides’ latest set of GTHL play as they gave up the difference maker with only 15 seconds remaining in the third period.
Defenceman Jackson Breitsprecher collected his first goal of the season for Thunder Bay, who got another solid goaltending performance from Weiss, as he matched the stellar play of Cates.
U16: Taking on four of the top clubs in the U16 AAA Division, the Kings were hard-pressed and went 0-4 overall.
Carter Poddubny had the lone goal in 5-1 setback vs. the Vaughn Kings, with an assist going to Cooper Labelle and netminder Travis VanderZwaag being peppered with 41 shots against in defeat.
Poddubny had the only marker again, with help from Labelle and Matthew Bertolin, in a 4-1 loss to the North York Rangers.
Chase Furlong made 22 saves in net for the Kings.
The Mississauga Rebels then pulled out a 5-1 decision over the squad in a contest that saw Jaden Desormeaux score unassisted for Thunder Bay and see VanderZwaag face 35 shots.
After that, the first place Toronto Jr. Canadiens proved their mettle as they pulled out a 5-2 victory to maintain their hold on top spot in U16 competition.
Lucas Bailey and Poddubny were the Kings’ marksmen while Labelle, Bertolin and Bailey chipped in with helpers.
Furlong faced 31 attempts in defeat.
U18: The under-18 squad went 1-2-1 in their portion of the schedule.
A well-earned 5-2 win over the Don Mills Flyers saw the side start strong and see Jordan Fanti, Peter Forester, Evan Lachimea, Ben Exell, as well as Mitch Vanderwey, score the goals.
Earning the win in net was Sam Keene, who finished with 27 saves in the triumph.
The club then fell 5-1 to the Vaughn Kings with Lucas Bertolin setting up Forester for the lone tally.
Goalkeeper Travis Smith saw 37 shots fired his way in defeat.
They then tied the Mississauga Rebels 4-4, helped in part by a two-goal effort courtesy of Isaac Cain.
Also connecting for the Kings were Vanderwey and Matthew Lysak.
Earning assists were Chad Smith, Kaden Goodwin, Bertolin, Forester and Lachimea, while Keene chipped in with 26 saves in the draw.
Lachimea then finished off an Exell pass for the only tally in a 5-1 loss at the hands of North York in a match-up that saw netminder Smith tested 35 times.
Each of the four Kings’ teams are back it in Toronto for GTHL play, January 20-22.
KINGS GTHL RECORD:
U18: 7-13-4
U16: 5-16-3
U15: 4-17-2
U13: 3-18-3
UPCOMING KINGS’ GTHL WEEKENDS
Jan. 20-22
Feb. 3-5
Feb. 10-12
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
