The countdown to the 2024 Ontario Lacrosse Festival is on so it only stands to reason local Sudbury Rockhound teams are taking every opportunity to perform a little fine-tuning of their game via tournament play.

Earlier this month, all four of the local rep squads were on hand for action on the road, with the U22 lads in Gloucester and the U15 side in Oshawa.

The elder Rockhounds started off well at the Ray Broadworth Memorial Tournament, executing a defensively-oriented game plan to a "T" and earning a 3-1 win over the Kahnawake Mohawks in one of the most intense encounters of their season.

A scoreless tie gave way to a two-goal outburst in the middle stanza for Sudbury as Kai D'Amour and Ben Harris pulled the trigger, with Jacob Hickerson increasing the lead to three goals with a power play marker in the third.

Surrendering just a single goal against, Rockhounds' netminder Mason Robertson was fully deserving of game MVP honours as the locals continued with their "you win from the net out" approach.

Trailing 4-3 entering the third period of play in game two versus the Tyendinaga Thunderbirds, the Rockhounds netted three unanswered goals in the final frame, including the game-winning tally from game MVP Blake Ramalho.

Alex Hachez paced the Sudbury attack with a three-goal effort, with Ashton Eadie and Carter Balkwill adding one goal apiece.

Back to back wins earned the Rockhounds a bye directly through to the semi-finals though the time off may have done them a disservice, the team dropping a tough 4-3 decision to Tyendinaga in the rematch as T-Birds' goalie Jared Barberstock stole one from the northern crew.

Game MVP Jacob Barney found the back of the net twice for head coach Mike Miron and company, with Carter Balkwill adding the remaining marker.

Posting an impressive 11-4 record to date that leaves the team right on the "A" division provincial ranking bubble, the U22 Rockhounds travelled to Niagara Falls this past weekend for the Conradi-Engemann Memorial U22 ournament, a gathering of many of the top 16 teams battling for OLA rankings in attendance.

Meanwhile, hours away, coach Benoit Douillette and the Sudbury U15 Rockhounds were among the entries at the Braver than Brave (Tucker Williams) Tournament hosted by the Oshawa Blue Knights.

Competing in a strong B/C event, the Rockhounds were subdued 9-1 by the Northumberland Nemesis as only Malik Jakubo managed to solve the opposing goalie.

Nothing but moral victories again in game two as the Brampton Excelsiors blasted the Rockhounds 10-2, with Malik Jakubo and Braeden Thibault accounting for the Sudbury offense.

Game three gave the local fans something to cheer about as the Rockhounds overcame an early 2-0 deficit, scoring three times in each of the final two periods and edging the Peterborough Lakers 6-5.

Malik Jakubo and Jackson Mead led the way for Sudbury, sniping two goals each and joined on the scoresheet by Shkwaandem-Ninii Osawamick and Tucker Johnson in what was easily the team's best outing, according to coach Douillette.