There may have been a few surprises along the way as the 2026 Big Nickel Hockey Tournament trimmed down from a 32-team U18 AAA bracket to the eight quarter-finalists, but when the dust settled Sunday afternoon at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, it was one of the expected contenders that would emerge victorious.
If you are to put some degree of merit on the My Hockey Rankings algorithms – and that is certainly not an unpopular opinion – it was the second best team in the province who were entered in the event that would leave with gold medals in hand as the Burlington Eagles (#4 in Ontario) blanked the Toronto Marlboros by a final score of 2-0 in the championship tilt.
First period goals from Charlie Brenn and Ethan Mundy and an outstanding effort between the pipes from Andrew Vaduva allowed the Eagles to take home the banner for the first time since 2022, also winning it all in back to back years in 2007 and 2008.
While Toronto head coach Mike O’Shea and his coaching entourage have enjoyed many a memorable moment in Sudbury over the years, earning Big Nickel bragging rights on a couple of occasions during a 13-year stint at the helm of the Mississauga Rebels, just getting to the finals with the Marlies this year was worthy of celebration.
One of the flagship programs of the GTHL (Greater Toronto Hockey League), the Toronto Marlboros U18 AAA entry carried a 9-5-1 record into tournament play, sliding the team in at slot #25 in the province.
“This team has started slow, but we knew we had a lot of good pieces,” said O’Shea, who also led his team to an OHF Championship in 2017, earning a Telus Cup trip to Prince George (B.C.)) that spring. “Guys have come in from different coaching styles and we’re trying to have them come in and confirm to our coaching style – and they’re slowly starting to get it.”
After posting an unblemished mark of 4-0 in their preliminary round games, the Marlies edged the Niagara North Stars (#26) 2-1 in the round of eight and blanked the Barrie Jr Colts (#5) in an impressive semi-final effort.
“We focus on strong positional play on the defensive side and holding that strategy in all three zones – and not over-committing and taking yourself out of the play,” said O’Shea. “And we have to generate quality shots. Shot selection starts to become really important here because you don’t get as many opportunities as in U16.”
Burlington ousted a Soo Jr Greyhounds team that put together a really nice run, with the Eagles downing the Great North League reps 5-2 in the quarters before slipping past the Ajax-Pickering Raiders (#2 in Ontario – behind only the Kitchener Jr Rangers) 3-2 in the semis before blanking the Marlboros for the second time this fall in tournament playoff action (they also beat the Marlies 4-0 at the Toronto Titans Tournament).
A tournament that featured countless one goal games over four days of play remained fairly consistent come playoff time as the remaining quarter-finas would see the Barrie Jr Colts trim the London Junior Knights 2-1 while Ajax-Pickering pulled away from the York-Simcoe Express by a final count of 3-0 thanks to a pair of late third period tallies.
As for the Sudbury U18 AAA Wolves, despite missing some key components to injuries in the form of Cooper Niquet and Owen Angus, the team remained competitive though not victorious, beaten in close affairs by St Michael’s College (3-2), the Niagara North Stars (2-1), the Toronto Marlboros (3-1) and the Markham Majors (2-1).
