With just one win to show for their seven Nickel District Minor Hockey League outings of the 2025-2026 season, the Copper Cliff U10 "A" Reds had every reason to believe this was going to be a long year.

Losses by six and seven goal margins to the North Bay Trappers suggested their was a gap in play that needed to be lessened - and that is exactly what the Reds set out to do.

Sure, it was a slow, sometimes painful process, but by the time February and March rolled around, team staff and players alike could see light at the end of the tunnel.

Though the team finished last in their four team bracket with seven wins, the end of year games were far more closely contested heading into the post-season tournaments.

Recording three wins and a tie in the league playoffs roughly one month ago, Copper Cliff dropped a tough 3-2 decision in the final to the first place Nickel City U10 "A" Cubs.

"Instead of letting that define them, they used it as fuel," noted assistant coach Darcy Beites. "At the Tournament of Champions (weekend), they put it all together."

Understanding that they could now go toe to toe with the Cubs, the Reds did just that, riding a second period goal from affiliate Owen Gauvin to a 1-0 win over Nickel City as Chester Campbell posted the shutout to open TOCs.

With confidence growing, Copper Cliff improved to 2-0-0 thanks to a 4-1 win over the North Bay Trappers as Owen Gauvin added two more goals to his stat-line, joined on the scoresheet by Emmett Martel and Damien Démoré.

A two-goal effort by Noah Bedard helped to propel the U10 A Reds past the Soo Peewee Jr Knights - White, also by a score of 4-1, with Owen Gauvin and Grayson Cushway chipping in with one goal apiece.

With their spot in the final secured, the Reds managed to withstand a 7-2 loss in their final preliminary game (Owen Gauvin, Trevor Snow), but bounced back to blank the Soo 6-0 in the final as Owen Gauvin and Noah Bedard found the back of the net twice each, with Chester Campbell earning his second shutout.

Ryan Adler and Damien Démoré capped off the scoring for the team that also included Kaleb Taylor, Henry Gibbons, Tiago Beites, Jacob Labrosse, Matteo Muzzi, Loic Vaillancourt, Finn Macveigh, Grayson Proulx, Innes Beviss-Challinor and Robert Nuttall.

Joining Darcy Beites on the team staff were head coach J-F Démoré (Barry McCrory stepped in for TOC weekend), assistant coaches Rob Snow and Steven Proulx and trainer Darryl Cushway.

"The regular season wasn't easy," said Beites. "But what never showed up in the standings was the steady improvement, the resilience and the belief these kids built in one another as the season progressed."

"By the time playoffs arrived, this was a completely different team."