With the Nickel City Major Atom “A” Knights and the Nickel City Major Atom “A” Coyotes locked in a scoreless battle, down to two on two in the fourth overtime session at the Azilda Arena on Sunday, Vincent Beaudry of the Knights ended the drama, netting the marker that would decide the Toe Blake Championship.

And that was but one of the thirteen Nickel District Hockey League banners that were distributed as the 2019 NDHL playoff tournament monopolized three local rinks over the weekend.

Mateo Beites backstopped the Atom Knights to victory, turning aside everything the Coyotes would throw at him. Every bit as dramatic was the Jim Pappin Division gold medal encounter, as the Copper Cliff Major Peewee “A” Redmen clung to a 3-2 lead over the Manitoulin Panthers.

But Liam Gray would knot the score at 3-3 with 2:13 to play and exactly two minutes later, teammate Corbin Best allowed the Panthers to avoid overtime as Manitoulin chalked up a 4-3 win. Aiden Case rounded out the scoring for the winners, while Drake Matthews, Anthony Gutscher and Benoit Hogue countered for Copper Cliff.

In another low scoring affair, Ezio Cusinato provided the offensive heroics, finding the back of the net midway through period three as the Copper Cliff Novice “AA” Redmen trimmed the Manitoulin Panthers 1-0 to walk off with Dan Susteric divisional bragging rights.

With the Cookie Campbell hardware on the line, Ryder Coe and Mason Walker scored four minutes apart early in the third as the Copper Cliff Major Atom “AA” Redmen captured the latest edition of one of the better local rivalries this year, downing the Nickel City Jr Sons 3-1. Matthew Trottier (Redmen) and Russell Ranger (Jr Sons) traded goals earlier in the game.

Anthony Blonda sandwiched a pair of goals around a solo marker from Lucas Green as the Northside Toyota Soo Jr Greyhounds upended the Sudbury Major Peewee “AA” Wolves 3-1, with Atom Thusaska recording the only Sudbury tally.

The Nickel City Minor Atom “A” Knights scored once in each period, tripling the Nickel City Minor Atom “A” Coyotes 3-1, adding their name to the list of teams that have their names displayed on the Alan Secord Division trophy. Zachary Arsenault enjoyed a two goal performance for the winners, with Carter Mullen chipping in with the remaining Knights’ goal, and Brady Carriere replying in a losing cause.

The girls were not to be kept out of the fun, claiming a pair of titles on the day. Charleigh Pardy scored twice and Ayla Lagace, Majia Potvin and Ava Assinewei all joined her on the scoresheet, propelling the Sudbury Peewee “AA” Lady Wolves to a 5-0 win over the Sudbury Bantam “B” Lady Wolves, heading home with the Frank St Marseille banner.

Ashleigh Beauchamp registered the whitewash in net for the peewee girls.

The Sudbury Atom Lady Wolves utilized a well balanced attack to get past the Elliot Lake Atom “A” Wildcats 5-4, as Chloe Martin, Morgan Dunphy, Valerie Prevost, Maia Hammell and Julia Dunphy each enjoyed the opportunity to celly in style. Tanner Dumont drilled home a pair of tallies for the Wildcats, getting some help offensively from both Lukaz Sopher and Owen Angus.

The West Ferris Minor Hockey delegation would not return home empty handed thanks to the Minor Atom “AA” Trappers, whose 3-2 triumph over the Sudbury Minor Atom “AA” Wolves, receiving the Randy Carlyle division banner in the process. Mike Culbert, Cedar Montreuil and Aidan Duchesne scored just enough to offset goals from the Sudbury tandem of Alex Marshfield and Ty Dubreuil.

Moving the puck around nicely, the Sudbury Novice “AA” Wolves bounced the Nickel City Novice “AA” Coyotes 6-1 as Tayden Smith, Dacey Dupuis, Bradley Eady, Greyson Hnatiuk, Ryan Thompson and Preston Hebert scored once each, with Jackson Leveille answering for the Coyotes in the Al Arbour Division.

A hat-trick from Samuel Gaudet led the Nickel City Peewee “A” Sharks to a 5-3 victory over the Copper Cliff Minor Peewee “AA” Redmen in the Ed Shack grouping, getting some additional support from the duo of Braeden Beggs and Miguel Dauphinais. Solving the Sharks’ goaltender for the Redmen were Adam Urso, Ethan Oliver and Max Arnold.

Myles Talbot potted three goals and Zackary Tyson added a pair as the Sudbury Novice “A” Wolves dumped the Copper Cliff Novice “A” Redmen 7-2, proudly displaying the Don McLean Division banner after the contest. Sean Simon and Ryan McKinty rounded out the scoring for the Wolves, with Camden Poirier and Max Larche doing the same for Copper Cliff.

Finally, the Raymond Gagnon Division was conquered by the Sudbury Minor Peewee “A” Wolves, also etching out a 7-2 win of their own, stopping the West Ferris Major Atom “AA” Trappers. The offense came courtesy of D. Taylor-2, M. Cusinato, J. Sampson-Jones, D. Mulligan, A. McLean, E. Thompson, while Cayden Hill handled all of the scoring for West Ferris.