The Thunder Bay Kings won their only match of the afternoon to move to 2-1, as Day 2 of the Ontario provincial Bantam AAA hockey championship saw plenty of action at Fort William Gardens on Tuesday.
Here's a recap of all the day's games:
GAME 7: Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs 4 Ottawa Valley Titans 4—In the day 2 opener Ottawa Valley would carry the play for the opening 15-minute session outshooting Hamilton 15-5, but could not solve the solid goaltending of Michael Calouri.
It would be the Bulldogs who got on the board first as Ryan Laufman scooped up a loose puck and stuffed it under the pad of Brayden St-Germain in the Titans net at 4:09 of the second period.
The Ottawa District Hockey Association champions would respond shorthanded two minutes later as Owen McDade was left alone in front and buried his own rebound over Calouri who made the initial save.
Special teams would once again play a factor in the next goal as the Titans notched their second man-down marker of the middle stanza when Kevin Groulx connected at 9:15.
Hamilton’s Connor Murphy would pull his side even after two periods as the speedy forward raced in on a breakaway and deftly made a couple of quick dekes before neatly tucking the puck into the top right hand corner of the net over a sprawled St-Germain.
Ottawa Valley would retake the lead 18 seconds into the final frame as Owen McDade slid in his first goal of the championship.
The Bulldogs would answer back with tallies three minutes apart from affiliate Max Balinsoon to tie it and Nathan Tandan to give them the lead.
In the final minute the Titans would pull St-Germain in favour of an extra attacker and were rewarded with the equalizer with 29 seconds remaining as Connor Cobbold lifted a shot into the roof on the left side of the net.
Shots on goal favoured Ottawa Valley by a 38-20 margin with Calouri earning game star laurels for Hamilton while McDade was recognized for Ottawa Valley.
GAME 8: —Mississauga Rebels 10 Northwestern Ontario All-Stars 0—The Greater Toronto Hockey League champion Rebels remained unbeaten as they rolled to the one-sided victory.
The Rebels trio of Nicholas Ursitti (5a), Nicolas Pastorious (2g-2a) and Jake Evans (4a) combined for 13 points in the win.
Kyle Jenkins and Matthew Alvaro chipped in with a goal and two assists apiece while David Miller tallied twice.
Notching the other two markers were Bennett Morrison and Robert Fabbri while Nicholas Eustace had a pair of helpers.
Mitchell Heck picked up the win while Brandon Bodnar suffered the loss.
GAME 9: —Thunder Bay Kings 2 Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs 1—Thunder Bay picked up their second victory against one loss while Elgin-Middlesex slipped to 1-2 in this day-two contest.
The two sides would go scoreless through the opening, but the Kings would strike quickly to begin the middle session Dan DelPaggio zipped a wrist shot past Chiefs’ goaltender Dan Black at the 17-second mark.
Thunder Bay then increased their lead to 2-0 at 3:03 of the frame as Nick Nigro fed Kings’ captain Brad Arabia.
The game remained that way until Elgin-Middlesex finally got on the board at the 3:41 mark of the third as Sam Vokes redirected a Brett Wray-Hammett in the slot on the blast from the left point that changed direction and eluded Nathan Dupuis in the Thunder Bay net.
Neither side could muster anymore offense as the low-scoring affair came to an end.
The Kings held the advantage in shots on goal by a 24-14 margin with each respective goaltenders garnering game star laurels.
GAME 10: Soo Greyhounds 7 Ottawa Valley Titans 3—The Greyhounds moved into a share of top spot with the victory over Ottawa Valley as they improved to 2-0-1 overall while the Titans fell to 0-1-2.
A back and forth first period saw the two sides combine for five goals as the Soo took a 3-2 lead after one.
Michael Amadio had two of those tallies for the Hounds while Anthony Stefano had the other.
Replying for Ottawa Valley were Connor Cobbold and Kevin Groulx.
Sault Ste. Marie would take control in the middle frame as they increased their lead to 6-3 heading into the mission.
After Jarren Bellini and Timmy McDonnell exchanged efforts Amadio finished off his hat-trick and Stefano bagged his championship-leading seventh goal in round robin play striking just 14 seconds after a foiled penalty shot attempt by the Titans.
A Bellini power play effort would account for the only scoring in the third in a game that saw his side out shoot Ottawa Valley 29-17.
Jacob Kment picked up the win between the pipes for the Soo while Nicholas Hodgins and Brayden St-Germain both saw time in the Titans net in a losing cause.
Player of the game honours went to Amadio and Cobbold.
GAME 11: —Mississauga Rebels 7 Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs 2—The final game on day two at the all-Ontario bantam championship saw Mississauga take sole possession of top spot in the standings with a 3-0-1 record following their triumph over Hamilton who fell to 0-1-2.
Nicholas Ursitti and Kyle Jenkins would stake the Rebels to a 2-0 lead before the Bulldogs bit back courtesy of a Ryan Laufman effort trimmed the margin after one period.
The Greater Toronto Hockey League champions would take control in the middle frame by scoring four times including a David Miller hat-trick. Santino Centorame supplied the other Mississauga goal and Brad Parish had one for Hamilton.
The third period saw the Rebels’ Nicolas Pastorious connect with a snap shot in the slot for the final goal of the night.
Shots on goal favoured Mississauga 30-10 with Liam Herbst having a relatively easy night in picking up the victory while Hamilton goaltenders, in starter Mark Sinclair and Michael Calouri with a brief relief appearance, both saw time in net.
Game stars went to Miller of the Rebels and Parish of the Bulldogs.
Round robin play at the all-Ontario bantam championship in Thunder Bay resumes Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. when the Ottawa Valley Titans meet the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs.
