TROY, Mich. – The Thunder Bay minor midget Kings have advanced to the title game of the North American Prospects Hockey League’s Dixon Cup Silver Division consolation final in Troy, Mich.
Thunder Bay earned a spot in Monday morning’s consolation final vs. the 4-0 Washington Capitals at 8 a.m. after splitting a pair of contests Sunday.
The Kings finished tied with the Valley Forge Minutemen in their division with identical 3-1 records, but Thunder Bay advanced to the match-up against Washington by virtue of a round-robin victory over the Minutemen.
They began Sunday by beating the Connecticut Elite 8-2 before dropping their final contest 5-4 to the Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres after giving up a tie-breaking goal with 1:15 remaining.
In the triumph vs. the Elite, Michael Stubbs paced the Kings attack with two goals and two assists.
Nicholas DeGrazia chipped in with a pair of tallies to aid the offensive cause while Michael Goegan, Bryson Cataldo, Matthew Halushak and Nikolas Campbell supplied singles.
Thunder Bay outshot Connecticut 35-20 in the win with netminder Eric Vanska picking up the victory.
In the setback vs. Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Nik Hong’s third goal of the game, coming with 75 seconds left in regulation proved to be the winner.
DeGrazia added two more markers in this contest while Campbell and Cataldo had the others in the setback.
The Kings came close to tying it late, ringing a shot off the post in the final seconds.
Stephan Bourgeois and Vanska both saw time in net in defeat for Thunder Bay who outshot the Sabres 31-26.
Meanwhile, the major midget Kings saw their NAPHL campaign come to a close after dropping a 2-1 decision to the Wenatchee Wolves.
After a scoreless first frame, Wenatchee tallied twice in the middle session to go up by a pair.
Christian Veneruzzo got one back for the Kings 10:15 into the third, but they would get no closer in suffering the setback.
Thunder Bay did outshoot the Wolves 31-22 with netminder Jordan Smith suffering up the loss.
