North Bay was THE place to be this week for high-school sports as the city played host to the NOSSA Boys & Girls Hockey Championships (in addition to OFSAA "AA" Boys Basketball and OFSAA "AA" Girls Volleyball), with both Sudbury hockey entries booking their slots at provincials.
In fairness, the Sudbury city champion St Charles College Cardinals boys were already guaranteed said slot given the fact that OFSAA will be hosted in Sudbury from March 18th to 20th, with eight ice pads on the go simultaneously.
Still, that didn’t stop the Cards from recording impressive wins over both the Chippewa Ravens (11-0) and St Joseph Scollard Hall Bears (3-0), even if they could not solve the nemesis that are the Korah Colts, despite having a pair of cracks at their rivals from the Sault.
Dropping a 4-2 decision to the Colts in a round robin game that was tied 2-2 heading to the third, the SDSSAA reps knew they were in for a battle in the final – even though both teams had secured a seat at the OFSAA table in two weeks’ time.
“We knew that we were both going, but at the end of the day, you’re playing to be a NOSSA champion,” noted SCC coach Rob Zanatta. “The kids were very much aware and pumped up and wanted it badly – and so did Korah.”
It showed.
A goal from Adam Urso (SCC) late in period two finally broke the ice in a scoreless affair, with the 1-0 scoreboard remaining constant through to the last few minutes of the game. Slipping free in the high slot, Griffen Albert (Korah) ripped home the equalizer, with the teams still deadlocked at 1-1 following a ten-minute 5 v 5 overtime session.
The second overtime, played four on four, would see almost eight full minutes come off the clock before Deago Campagna sent the Korah bench into a frenzy, netting the NOSSA winning goal.
“Their goalie was fantastic,” noted Zanatta. “We peppered him the first two periods and he made some outstanding saves – but Rowan McCann (St Charles goalie) was also fantastic.”
Despite the setback, Zanatta and company remain optimistic about what the upcoming OFSSA tournament, at home, might have to offer for a St Charles program that has made it an annual ritual to qualify from the north.
"It was a heartbreaking loss but the silver lining is that we have more hockey to play," said Zanatta. "We still have a good chance of getting into the quarter-finals (at OFSAA) and maybe playing for a medal."
"We think we have that good of a hockey team here."
Albeit not one without challenges. SDSSAA playoff MVP and offensive sparkplug Jackson Noble separated his shoulder at NOSSA and may or may not be ready to go with the all-Ontario festivities less than two weeks away.
On the girls side of the draw, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights will also have the chance to play at home, despite settling for silver at NOSSA.
A 2-1 loss against the St Joseph Scollard Hall Bears in the final in North Bay finds the NOSSA champs (SJSH Bears) heading to Aurora for the OFSAA "AAA" tournament while the SDSSAA banner winners (Lo-Ellen) join St Charles as local hopefuls in girls "A/AA" hockey action in Sudbury.
The Knights opened NOSSA with a 6-1 win over the Korah Colts as Sadie Frantz paced the offense with a two goal effort, joined on the scoresheet by Maddie Buchowski, Sophie Gauld, Isabella Perry and Gracie Dale.
Lo-Ellen also took care of business in their preliminary round matchup with the Bears, recording a 3-1 win on goals from Gauld (2) and Frantz. Unfortunately, the latter was the only local to hit the mark in the final as Jade White scored twice to lead St Joseph Scollard Hall to gold.
