I can’t say that I am entirely convinced that immersing one’s self immediately into a local sports scene travelling a million miles an hour is necessarily the standard prescription in dealing with obscene amount of jet lag.

Of course, there is something to be said for simply being too busy to recognize that you are too tired to go on.

In that sense, I thank you, Sudbury sports.

Bouncing around several different rinks as the opening of back to back weekends of Nickel District Minor Hockey League playoff action kicked off, mixing in stops along the way at the Coniston Curling Club (Club Championship Qualifiers) and Laurentian University, site of the OUA Nordic Ski Championships filled up any spare time I had quite nicely.

Not to mention the fact that the athletes delivered, creating some special and memorable moments at each and every stop. Case in point: I walked into the Garson Arena with just a few minutes remaining in the U11A Championship, the Sudbury Lady Wolves and Nickel City Coyotes engaged in a thriller with the Randy Carlyle divisional banner on the line.

In the end, a first period goal from Ella Sabourin and a rock-solid shutout performance from Kloe Rienguette was enough to propel the girls to a 1-0 win, making amends for a 5-4 loss the previous day to the very same opponent.

“The game that we played yesterday, we weren’t happy about how we played,” said Sabourin, currently ten years old and in grade five at Ecole catholique Jean-Paul II in Val Caron. “We wanted to come out flying the next game. We didn’t sit and watch them as much (today), I found.”

“We were better on back checking and when we had a chance to take the puck away, we did.”

As for the game-winning goal, it turns out that Sabourin is quite the prolific goal scorer – and while she did not have a clear-cut memory of this particular tally, she was able to talk about her favourite strike of the year. “There was one goal when I was coming in and I went to the side and faked it and then backhanded it in, like top cheese,” she said with a smile.

Much of the offense that Sabourin creates comes from the position that she plays, one that, in her mind at least, creates the idea environment to be super involved in the play. “I like being a centre because I can go all over the ice,” she explained. “If I am wing, it’s harder because I have no idea what I am doing.”

It was, generally speaking, a pretty good day for the Lady Wolves’ contingent as the girls also took home the U13 B title (Ray Gagnon division), upending the North Shore Thundercats 5-3. Juliana Theriault, Audrey McKinnon, Sophie Gauld and Isabella Perry joined Ella Sabourin on the scoresheet, the latter pulling double duty as an injury call-up for the game, netting her second straight GWG.

Colton Holmes scored twice in a losing cause, with Bailey Fitzpatrick also hitting paydirt for the Cats.

The Copper Cliff Reds doubled the Nickel City Sharks 4-2 to lay claim to the U13 A banner (Cookie Campbell division), showcasing a balanced attack that featured goals from Parker Dutrisac, Cameron Paquette, Jackson McArthur and Noah Palladino. Jackson Bentley and Lowell Huskinson countered for the Sharks.

Three unanswered third period goals lifted the Chapleau Huskies to a 4-1 win over the North Bay Trappers in the U15 A (Henry LeBouthillier) final, with captain Cole Ellis leading the way, netting both the first goal of the game, as well as the game-winner. Teammates Jordan Martineau and Kyston Stevens also chipped in offensively, while Logan Meunier broke the goose-egg for the Trappers.

Finally, D & L Towing Jr Gold Kings from Timmins scored once each period (Alex Levasseur, Dawson Cyr, Brody Donivan), downing the Hearst/Kap Regional Express 3-1, with Francis Deschamps picking up their only marker late in the third.

Off to the great outdoors as Mother Nature cooperated, for the most part, with the influx of university athletes from across the province, invading Sudbury to take part in the OUA Nordic Ski Championships over the weekend.

“I don’t think we could have asked for better conditions than this – other than the wind,” noted second year student-athlete Laydon Bursey, a graduate of the impressive Lo-Ellen Park Knights' program and now in his second year of Biology at Laurentian. “That huge snow storm that we got earlier this week allowed the trails to firm up so they were nice and fast.” “The groomers did a great job with the tracks and trails; it was awesome.”

Challenged to train for the past two years with no real certainty about when they might get the chance to showcase their skills in a race setting, Bursey and his mates veered to a couple of positives to help them persevere.

“One thing that was really important was having all of these community races, time trials, fun events where you could challenge yourself,” said Bursey. “And this year, we had a sport performance room that we get to use twice a week. That, for me, was the biggest thing that helped me with my skiing.”

Part of a relatively young core of Voyageurs that will look to make some noise in the coming years, Bursey was not about to complain a whole lot about the times that he posted. “Personally, I’m really happy with my results,” he said.

“I think I raced really well. I think I placed around the same in skate and classic, and that’s always a goal, to try and be equal in both.”

Highlighting things from a local perspective was the performance of Maddie Norman as the Voyageur veteran was named to the OUA All-Star team.

In other OUA news, the Laurentian Voyageurs’ women’s curling team suffered a heart-breaking quarter-final loss at provincials, eliminated from the event in the process. After posting a 4-0 record in pool play with victories over the Western Mustangs (8-2), Windsor Lancers (9-2), Waterloo Warriors (9-7) and Guelph Gryphons (4-2), the locals would draw the Carleton Ravens in the round of eight.

A defensive battle ensued, scoreless through four ends, with Laurentian scoring two in the fifth, Carleton matching that in the sixth, and the Voyageurs holding hammer in the eighth and final end. Unfortunately, a steal of two by the Ravens spelled the end of the line for the team, despite the fact that skip Abby Deschene and vice-skip Keira McLaughlin both managed to crack the roster of the all-star team.

And finally, still with curling, congratulations go out to the North Bay Granite Club rink of Chris Bowman, Chris Chartrand, Ben Alexander, Tanner Johnson and Brad Beaver. Reeling off five straight wins in Coniston to avoid the sixth and final draw altogether, Team Bowman topped a field that included local rinks skipped by Tom Cull, Patrick Chartier and Mike Assad to lay claim to the Region 5 Club Championship berth at provincials later in March in Timmins.