Some cruised to victory while others snuck through by the skin of their teeth.

But in the end, it will be another solid contingent of Sudbury Lady Wolves teams that will participate in the OWHA Provincial Championships from April 10th to the 13th at rinks right across the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).

With a few tournament wins already under their collective belts, the U15BB Lady Wolves found themselves more in the former category, at least to start, posting a 4-0 shutout of the North Bay Jr Lakers in game one at the Pete Palangio Arena.

A three-goal performance from Alexie Miller would show the way offensively, with Abigail Ouimet posting the shutout and Ella Gatien chipping in with the remaining marker.

Battling two nights later in Coniston and with illness running through their lineup, the Sudbury girls found things a little more challenging as Maya Croskery scored late in the third to snap a 1-1 tie, allowing the locals to secure the four points they needed to advance.

Grace Demers rounded out the scoring for the U15BB team that will enter the all-Ontario playdowns as a favourite to still be playing come the Sunday morning semi-finals.

The Sudbury U18A Lady Wolves also entered game three in very good shape, picking up a win and a tie in their first two games and then jumping out to a 2-0 lead early in game three at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

The North Bay squad, however, was not about to let their provincial dreams dissipate without a fight, cutting the margin in half early in the third and pulling even in the dying minutes, though they could not net the game-winning goal that would have been needed to stave off elimination as Sudbury takes the four point series, 4-2 thanks to a 2-2 draw in game three.

"I feel like we didn't go into the game thinking that we only needed a tie," said 17 year-old team veteran Kendra Cole, who opened the scoring for the homeside. "We went in thinking that we needed to win."

"We do tend to generally play pretty offensively," added Cole. "We always want to score a lot. I think that helped us a lot."

While protecting the lead did not go exactly as planned, it's not as though the basic concepts have not been drilled home by the team coaching staff.

"When we are up, we have our roles: F1, F2, F3," said Cole. "We have to look around and communicate with each other to make sure we know who is going to stay back. I am a very defensive player; I usually have trouble going in."

A grade 12 student at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School, Cole knows that this set of provincials might feel a little different from the countless championships she has attended before.

"I would really like to take it all in, to play every shift as hard as I can," she said. "I want to take nothing for granted because it will be over before you know it."

It almost was for the Sudbury U18AA Lady Wolves.

This crew also appeared to be in good shape, taking game one (3-0), playing to a 2-2 tie in game tie and grabbing a 2-1 lead midway through game three last weekend on goals from Ryann Chevrier and Kynlee Cresswell.

Even a game-tying marker in the third did not spell disaster, with the Sudbury girls set to advance with a tie. All bets were off, however, when the North Bay Jr Lakers scored with 13 seconds to play, knotting the series at three points each and forcing overtime to be played, with a berth to the all-Ontario tournament on the line.

Ten minutes of five on five hockey solved nothing so the teams were off to a shootout, the same manner in which the North Bay U18 AA crew had upset the SDGHA reps two years ago.

With no goals through the first four shooters, the visitors grabbed the upper hand, scoring on their fifth attempt - only to see Sudbury rookie Reese Williamson come through in the clutch, extending the shootout two more rounds.

With Lady Wolves netminder Kate Bouchard standing tall at her end of the rink, Leah Salo would provide the heroics, vaulting her team into provincials thanks to a five-hole snipe.

It was a somewhat similar story with the Sudbury U15A Lady Wolves, having played to a pair of 2-2 ties with the North Bay Jr Lakers and forcing a winner-take-all encounter on the road.

Down 2-1 late, the nickel city girls netted a pair of goals in the final two minutes of play, taking the contest 3-2 and taking the series 4-2.

Rowan Frood, Ryann Morris and Anika Rheaume found the back of the net for head coach Jamie Brunette and company, with Jenna Cole adding helpers on all three tallies and Zara Daoust registering the win between the pipes.

The Sudbury U13A Lady Wolves apparently liked that particular pathway, also earning a single point in back to back games (1-1 in North Bay - Taylor Poirier goal; 0-0 in Coniston) before slipping past the Jr Lakers 2-1 at the West Ferris Arena on goals from Jordyn White and Zoe Gatien.

The above teams will be joined by a handful of others who received automatic entry into the OWHA Championships as the Sudbury Girls Hockey crew look to make it five straight years with at least one team earning a medal at provincials (notwithstanding the Covid break from 2020 to 2021).