The peril of the cross-over game would bite the Nickel City Minor Bantam "A" Coyotes right in the butt as the local crew were forced to play the eventual gold medal winning Burlington Eagles in back to back games, eliminated in the semi-finals of the International Silver Stick Tournament in Newmarket over the weekend.

Competing in Pool "A" (the eight entries were divided into two groupings of four), the Coyotes kicked off play with a solid 3-2 win over the Metcalfe Jets, with Julien Levac, Simon Pominville and Logan Haas all finding their way on to the scoresheet for the winners.

More good news the next morning as Nickel City finds a way to capture another close outing, edging the Orillia Terriers 2-1 and improving to 2-0. The Terriers opened the scoring, getting on the board early in the first, a goal that looked like it would stand as the game-winner for the longest time.

But with under three minutes to play, Landon Doyle and Simon Pominville hit the mark just 28 seconds apart, lifting the locals past the same opponent they edged out in the Regional Silver Stick final in Sudbury last month.

The challenge that still lie ahead was made abundantly clear in game three as the Centre Wellington Fusion outscored the Coyotes 6-2, with Pominville accounting for both of the goals in a losing cause in a match-up that saw Nickel City trailing just 3-1 heading into the final period of play.

Unfortunately, the random draw that selected the cross-over adversary would pit the northern Ontario lads opposite the first place team in Pool "B" in the form of the Burlington Eagles. The team, which surrendered only two goals in their four round robin games, showcased their defensive excellence, defeating the Coyotes 2-0 to close out the preliminary round, 4-0 to move on to the gold medal game, where they posted a 2-0 whitewashing of the Centre Wellington Fusion in the final.