Head coach B.J. Adair knew some of what he had with the 2025 Sudbury U13 Rockhounds.
Through three games at the Conrad Rollings Memorial Tournament in Newmarket, Adair had witnessed his squad show signs of merging nicely a core of seven of so experienced rep lacrosse players with an enthusiastic group of newcomers.
What he had not seen yet was their ability to handle the inevitable challenges. Three consecutive round robin pool victories by a combined score of 23-5 demonstrated the team had talent - but Adair knew at some point, they would need more.
"The most positive piece from the weekend was that in a tight championship game, when they were down, their resilience was the quality that shined through," said Adair, his Rockhounds storming back from a 4-2 mid-game deficit to bounce the Arthur Aces 9-5 in the end.
"Sometimes, at this age, they can get down on themselves. This group pulled together, they stayed positive and they continued to work hard as a group."
The lead-in to that grand finale had not necessarily prepared the local crew for hardened battles.
The Rockhounds quadrupled the Aces 8-2 to open tournament play as Kaesen Adair (4) and Oliver Brunetti (2) powered the attack, with Grayson Colton and Rohan Saidi-Smith rounding off the offense.
With provincial caliber netminder Wyatt Williams away for the weekend, the tandem of Arlo Owl McGregor and Oliver Clarke did nice work in sharing the net throughout the weekend.
Now on a roll, the Rockhounds made quick work of the Uxbridge Enforcers, with Oliver Brunetti netting a hat trick, Jarrett Marshall adding a pair and Kaesen Adair recording his fifth goal in two outings.
Game through mirrored the previous encounter, with Sudbury jumping out to an early lead and cruising to a 9-2 triumph over the Toronto Beaches.
Jarrett Marshall and Kaesen Adair both posted three goal performances while Carter Kuczma, Clark Montgomery and Rohan Saidi-Smith joined them on the scoresheet.
The come-from-behind effort in the gold medal game saw the northern lads shut down the Aces in the third, scoring four unanswered goals as Oliver Brunetti (5), Kaesen Adair (2), Cedric Poulin and Merrick Charbonneau all hit the target.
"We've got a handful of brand new players to the game and they've all taken to it very quickly," suggested coach Adair. "We had practiced for about a month leading into the tournament and you never really know what to expect."
Drawing from both hockey ranks and various other backgrounds, the coaching staff quickly realized that there was some definite potential within this particular grouping.
"The things we saw was that their base athleticism is transferrable and the grit and grind," said Adair. "They have a hunger for loose balls, they're not afraid of the competition and the contact - and that transfers over quickly."
The U13 Rockhounds, which also includes Daxton Wabano, Fisher Lemieux, Karson Ferguson, Laughlin Hagen and Noah Stott, will now look to fine tune their game in anticipation of the Nickel City Shootout taking place in Sudbury on the weekend of June 20th to the 22nd.
