With their game one mulligan behind them, the Nickel City U13 A Cubs were off to the races at the Capital Blues Hockey Fest in Ottawa at the end of September, eventually claiming the banner thanks to a 3-0 win over the Osgoode-Richmond Romans in the final.

Things did not look nearly so good on Friday morning when the Romans doubled the Cubs 6-3, kicking off round robin play for both teams at the CIBC Sensplex.

Jones Paajanen wasted little time making a name for himself at the event, netting a hat trick to account for all of the Nickel City scoring in their first game of the weekend.

With their road legs now ready to go, the Nickel City lads overpowered the West Hill Golden Hawks 9-0 in game two as Paajanen made it back to back hat tricks, joined on the scoresheet by no less than six of his teammates.

Carter Chenier, Jonah Gervais, Jeremy Clouthier, Tyler Racine, Ethan Paquet and Aiden Dupuis all potted one goal apiece in helping the Cubs to the rout.

The Cubs kept rolling the next day, vanquishing the Cumberland Jr Grads on the strength of goals from Parker Roy, Jace St-Marseille, Jeremy Clouthier and Jones Paajanen.

The northern reps closed out round robin play with a 5-2 win over the GOB (Gloucester/Orleans/Blackburn) Blues as Luca Gauthier and Jones Paajanen both came through with two-goal efforts, the remaining tally courtesy of Aiden Dupuis.

The locals needed overtime to survive their semi-final matchup with the Nepean Raiders as Paajanen knotted the contest at 1-1 in the final minute of play and then lifted the Cubs to a 2-1 win and a spot in the tournament final, taking a feed from Jeremy Clouthier and burying the game-winning goal.

An all-around team effort was evident in the Nickel City rematch with the Osgoode-Richmond Romans as Parker Roy, Jonah Gervais and Jeremy Clouthier all found the back of the net while goaltender Jason Marcotte earned his shutout of the tournament and game MVP honours in the 3-0 contest.

Rounding out the 2024-2025 Nickel City U13 A Cubs roster are netminder Gavin Mitchell as well as skaters Elliot Sanche, Cohen Wabano, Kaleb Salem, Nash Gauthier and Logan Peltier.

The team staff features head coach Yves Gervais as well as assistant coaches Steven Fraser and Noah Sanche.

"I've coached a lot of hockey but I've never seen a group build so much chemistry and take advice from coaching staff like this before," said coach Gervais. "Maybe it's because they are all from house league and just so eager to learn and develop."