It’s go time for the Sudbury U18 AAA Wolves.

With the Great North U18 AAA League playoffs now basically two months away, all eyes are geared towards the series of games that will propel one NOHA team into the Central Region U18 AAA Championships – with the end goal of a Telus Cup appearance very much front of mind.

Sitting in second place in the nine team loop but 12 points back of the front-running North Bay Trappers – not to mention just mere points ahead of both the Soo Jr Greyhounds and Timmins Majors – the local crew is looking to secure the banner for the first time since 2017-2018.

Fresh off a 1-3 performance at the Oakville Winter Classic that featured a 6-0 whitewashing of the Brantford 99ers but losses at the hands of the Mississauga Rebels (6-2), Mississauga Senators (4-1) and Hamilton Kilty Bs (4-1), the U18 AAA Wolves return to a league schedule that has them coming off a two game road sweep on Timmins on January 11th and 12th.

“We’ve got to get more consistency,” noted 17 year-old defenceman Josh Cholette, in his second and final year with the team. “Sometimes we’re on; sometimes we’re off. It depends, from game to game.”

And as is so often the case with young men at the age, dealing with the downs is far more challenging that riding the wave on the ups.

“We have to stay positive,” added Cholette. “We struggled with too much negativity on the bench. We’re not good in dealing with adversity, so we need to get better at that.”

Still, the smooth-skating blueliner sees in his team a squad that might be even better than the 2023-2024 group that finished first in regular season play only to drop a 2-1 heartbreaker in the league final to Timmins.

“We’re a pretty solid team – but we’ve got to stick together,” said Cholette. “We’re not glued enough. If we can stick together and work hard, things can get done.”

Hard work has long been the calling card of forward Nicholas Labrecque, limited to just 16 games to date this year due to injuries. Also in his second year with the Wolves, the Lo-Ellen Park senior has found his niche in a key area in which his team has posted the best stats in the league.

“I’m a big penalty killer and energy guy,” said Labrecque. “Communication is the most important thing in penalty killing – talking on the ice, talking before the game, talking about what PK strategy that we want to use.”

While a winning record in Oakville would have been nice, Labrecque was quick to note that there were some hurdles that did not make things any easier for the Sudbury lads. “For the first three games, we had four or five players out with suspensions or injuries,” he said. “We had players filling in different roles.”

“I thought the team played very well considering how many players we were missing.”

That, of course, speaks at least somewhat to a double-edged sword, an area of the game in which the coaching staff would like to see some improvement.

“Our discipline is still our biggest issue,” noted assistant coach Noah Gascon, a newcomer to the bench of the U18 AAA Wolves this year. “We’ve touched on it a lot since the start of the year – and it’s definitely gotten a lot better. There’s no doubt about that.”

“But we can’t keep taking penalties after the whistle or taking penalties in the third when we’re up a goal or two.”

Just 25 years of age, Gascon is an interesting addition to the staff that head coach Scott Rienguette has assembled. Naturally athletic, the Valley East native steered his sporting interests in the direction of soccer and volleyball as his primary competitive passions.

Involved in hockey in a far more recreational capacity, he remained a fan of the game, sharing many a conversation with his younger brother (Josh), a Sports Administration student at Laurentian who assists in the stats area at Sudbury Wolves’ games.

Noah brings a different viewpoint to the game, though one that he (and others) consider equally as valuable. “Playing a lot of sports growing up, you get different experiences from different coaches,” he said. “I try and take a few things, tips and tricks from those guys and apply it to hockey.”

“I never played competitive but I have played and watched it my whole life,” Gascon added, a young man who points proudly to Tampa Bay Lightning head coach John Cooper as a shining example that one need not have played hockey at an elite level in order to be able to coach the game well.

The truth is that regardless of the sport, trying to keep your emotions in line is easier said than done for a good number of testosterone-filled teenage boys. “I don’t know if there’s much more than trying to keep your head in check and keep your mouth shut, as much as possible,” said Gascon, addressing the challenges of reining in poor discipline.

“That’s usually how it starts. You start yapping and then things happen. When they go out on the ice, it’s up to them to keep their emotions in check.”

The Sudbury U18 AAA Wolves travel to New Liskeard on Friday to face the Cubs (9-14-0-0), returning home on Sunday for an all-local affair versus the Sudbury U16 AAA Wolves (6-14-0-1) at 7:45 p.m. at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

Rounding out the 2024-2025 U18 AAA Wolves roster this year are Denver Mulligan, Jameson Fabbro, Drake Taylor, Brett Moxam, Noah Lafrance, Cameron Vehkala, Hudson Goulet, Russell Ranger, Grady Jalbert, Rowan Smith, Khade Metatawabin, Vinny Gilbert, Mehki Levesque, Matthew Trottier, Gerald Southwind, Madden Glavota, Wesly Richer and Declan McNamara.

GNU18L Playoff Format: Timmins Majors to host five-team championship weekend on March 12th to 16th. Prior to this, the 5th-6th-7th placed teams will compete on March 7th to 9th for one spot in the finals (Timmins is excluded). Teams in eighth and ninth place at end of regular season play are eliminated.