The Nickel City U11 "A" Cubs may not have captured gold at the Kirk Kelly Memorial Tournament last weekend but their run to the final clearly set the tone for their return to Nickel District Minor Hockey League action this week.
Mere days after suffering a tough 2-1 loss in the championship encounter of a tournament in Newmarket, the Cubs had their learnings on full display at the Toe Blake Arena Wednesday night, gradually pulling away from the Sudbury U11 "AA" Lady Wolves and posting a 6-1 win.
With Lady Wolves' netminder Tessa Hoag standing tall in the early going, the Nickel City crew were held at bay until a point shot from Tucker Robitaille deflected directly to Zakai McIntyre, who made no mistake in tucking it into an empty net.
The Cubs tripled their lead in period two, first on a nifty play right off the draw from Mélix Dubois and later on a seeing-eye point shot from captain Caleb Mahy as the puck somehow eluded the barrage of players screening the way for Hoag.
"I knew their team a little bit," suggested Dubois, a resident of Chelmsford who also enjoys strong (and proud) family ties to the Cochrane region. "They had a disadvantage so I got in front and went for it, low blocker side."
"That's an easy goal spot."
Following the flood, the girls looked set to mount a comeback as Marguerite Gieselman broke free on a breakaway, stymied initially by Nickel City puck-stopper Eli Graveline but with time to jam home the rebound just 21 seconds into the third.
The Cubs, however, were more than ready to settle back in to their system, holding the fort until Grayson Colton and Dubois (on a lovely pass from McIntyre) scored in rapid succession, less than a minute apart, midway through the frame, with Colton capping off the parade with a late wrister.
Though the Lady Wolves were able to generate a few chances off the rush from blueliners Bristol Recollet and Jorgia-Lee McLeish, the Cubs were full measure for the win, often controlling the puck in the offensive zone for almost an entire shift at a time.
After posting a 2-1-1 record in round robin play in Newmarket (2-2 tie with Clarington Toros; 2-0 win over Leaside Flames; 4-1 loss to Leitrim Hawks; 8-1 win over Ajax-Pickering Raiders), Dubois and his teammates had a clear sense of at least one element of their game that needed work as they went on to bounce the Northshore Thundercats 6-1 in the semis before dropping the nail-biter to Clarington.
"Passing," exclaimed Dubois. "We need to start passing more. A lot of our players just like to score. We need to pass to win."
As the team nears the mid-season mark of their schedule, Dubois has made the move from wing to centre, though he has maintained the same linemates (Zakai McIntyre and Mikai McCool), a very good thing, in his eyes.
"We are starting to pass a lot more," said Dubois, a 5th grader at Ecole St-Etienne in Dowling who is also noticing the changes in his positioning, especially in the defensive zone.
"At center, you don't stay on the boards as much," he said. "To help get it out, I was usually on the boards (as a winger), but now I am skating up."
Rounding out the silver medal winning Nickel City roster are Theo Pilon, Malcolm Sanche, Ethan Edwards, Benjamin Yeo, Wyatt Comber, Cooper Daoust, Karson Dempster, Blake Blouin, Jaxson Scarfone and Ashton Willoughby.
