The Sudbury U13 AA Wolves and North Bay U13 AA Trappers were separated by just a single point in the Nickel District Minor Hockey League (NDMHL) action last Saturday morning as the pair met for the first of two games on Saturday, the first at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

That parity was not all that evident through most of the first two periods of play, with Sudbury up 4-1 when Colton Brunette narrowed the gap to two for the visitors heading to the third.

Trading goals in the final frame, the Wolves would register a 5-3 win, following that up with two more victories since then (4-2 over North Bay later Saturday; 4-0 over the Nickel City U13 AA Cubs last night) to continue their climb up the standings.

Though it would take almost ten minutes from the drop of the puck to break the ice, there was little doubt that Sudbury was the better team early in game one of their two game set with the Trappers.

The homeside was rewarded when Blake Gertz buried a pass from Taio Gladu, doubling the Sudbury advantage just 21 seconds later when Gertz jammed home the puck following a mad scramble, with both of his linemates picking up helpers on the play (Taio Gladu and Brock Lafortune).

It was the big, burly winger (Lafortune) that would close out an outstanding opening frame, roofing a shot from a tough angle coming down the left wing to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead heading to the middle stanza.

With the SMHA reps assessed a four-minute head contact penalty, goaltender Marcus Demoré stood tall, kicking out the pad to deny Brunette from the slot. The persistence of the Trappers finally paid off as Brunette converted on the power play a minute or so later, netting his first of three goals on the game.

Blake Gertz would answer that, sniping his third with a top shelf wrister after Lafortune had bulldozed his way through the middle of the defense, Gertz following nicely in his wake.

Special teams were front and centre once again in the third as the Wolves benefitted from a five on three man advantage, with Gladu banging it home before Brunette capped off the scoring with a PP goal of his own, making it 5-3 with 3:13 remaining.

Clearly, the quick start was the difference-maker in this game, with Gertz outlining some of what was discussed, pre-game, the chatter that got he and his teammates more than ready as they took to the ice for warm-up.

"Our coaches were telling us to move our feet, keep our heads up, pass the puck - and be sure to drink lots of water," stated the 12 year old grade 7 student at St Charles College. "And we had to be aware of blocking shots because some of their guys from the point have hard shots."

In this game, it was the trio of Gertz-Gladu-Lafortune that did most of the damage offensively for the Wolves, with the hat-trick man explaining what makes this line really click.

"We were all on the same team last year (Copper Cliff)," said Gertz. "We have pretty good chemistry. We have Brock with a hard shot, Taoi likes to pass and I like to shoot and get in there - and we all keep our heads up."

"I would say that we're a pretty good line."

Certainly that diversity of skill sets was on full display as Gertz capped off his three goal performance inm period two. "On my last goal, one of my friends, Brock Lafortune took one of their guys out of the way and then I scored, top corner," said Gertz.

Rounding out the Sudbury roster are: Thomas Eady, Benjamin Pilbacka, Cedrik Gagnon, Nicholas Diotte, Reese Morris, Ben Babij, Noah Therrien, Carter Dunn, Jaxon Dmytrow, Ty Thibault, Dylan Campeau, Brayden Neault and Bennett Bouchard.

The Sudbury U13 AA Wolves will make the return trip to North Bay for a two game set on Sunday, March 2nd before closing off their NDMHL regular season schedule by hosting the Timmins U13 AA North Stars for two on Saturday March 15th.