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GNML: Week Nine Recap*
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A home and home series between Sudbury and Nickel City is always sure to attract some attention, while Sault Ste Marie continues their roll, sweeping across the northern part of the league. Both stories are featured in this week's edition of Peter Michelutti's End of the Roll GNML Weekly Report.

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Depending on your vantage point, both the Nickel City Sons and Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves took turns playing great hockey and not-so-great hockey, as the local rivals split a two-game weekend head to head set.

Ironically, both would win on the road. Saturday night at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the Sons scored three times in the second period to break open a 1-1 tie and breeze to a 5-1 win over the Wolves.

Mackenzie MacMillan paced the Nickel City attack with a two-goal effort, with Connor Tessier, Tristan Simeoni and call-up Brandon Digby adding singles. Anthony Pelletier scored late in the first for Sudbury, the only time the team would find a way to solve veteran netminder Brayden Lachance.

Come Sunday afternoon in Hanmer, the tone for a reversal of fortunes was established quickly as Pelletier connected on the power-play just thirty seconds into the game. The Nickel Capital Wolves would add two more with the man advantage as well as a short-handed tally, earning the split with a 6-2 victory.

Pelletier, with his second, Austin Burke, Thomas Farrell, Calvin Naveau and Messier Quachegan rounded out the scoring for the visitors, with Joel Grandbois and Simeoni replying in a losing cause for the Sons.

"We were definitely upset with the loss last night," acknowledged Sudbury netminder Adam Greasley, who picked up the win with a solid 26-save performance between the pipes for the Wolves.

"We did not turn over the puck as much today. Last night, we had a lot of turnovers at either blue line. This game, we chipped the puck, we moved it better, we got pucks to the net, and shot more."

The third-year midget puck-stopper cracked the Nickel Capital Wolves roster for the first time this season, and is continuing to search for the consistency that he would like, providing his team a chance to win each and every time he starts a game.

"I think today was one of my stronger games," explained Greasley. "I was doing good at the beginning (of the season), but I had a couple of not-so-good games lately. It was definitely a nice bounce-back for me to come out and play well, and make some big saves."

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The weekend results leave the Nickel Capital Wolves solidly entranched in second place in league standings with a record of 12-3-1-1, three points back of the Soo Thunderbirds. Despite having four regulars out of the roster, Nickel City improved to 8-6-0-0, tied with the Timmins Majors in third place at 18 points, but holding four games in hand.

"I thought the guys played well in both games," noted Sons head coach Joel Whissell. "Today, the only difference was that we were undisciplined and we took a lot of penalties. Yesterday, we were able to stay out of the box."

With three affiliated players seeing action in both games, Whissell and staff looked at the weekend as an opportunity to experiment. "We just tried to get some different combinations going, things that we might not have tried earlier in the year," he said.

"It gives some opportunities for other guys to step up." And that they did, according to the former NOJHLer turned coach. "I thought Mackenzie MacMillan had a fantastic weekend, considering he was coming off an injury," declared Whissell.

"André Frappier had a great weekend on the back-end for us. He was consistent, he was moving pucks well, he was doing a lot of things that we asked of him." Along with Digby, both Alex Bouthillier and Ryan Rouleau saw action with the Sons, with some of the walking wounded expected to return soon.

Broedy Bertrand: shoulder injury - should be back for this coming weekend or the next
Brayden Henri: broken hand - most likely the last weekend of the month
Logan Lefebvre: seperated shoulder - probably mid-December
Mathieu Quenville: broken ankle - early to mid-December

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Up north, the Soo Thunderbirds extended their winning streak to six games, bumping their season mark up to 14-4-1-0. Spotting the New Liskeard Cubs a 1-0 first period lead, the visitors stormed back for a 5-2 win on Friday night, with Matt Mackay, Brad Thrower, Zach Senecal, Matt Murray and Jared Fanti all hitting the mark for the winners.

Gabriel Rheault and Cameron Moore countered for the Cubs, just one point back of both Nickel City and Timmins. Fanti, one of a small handful of players to make the move from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste Marie this year, scored in the last minute of the second period in game two of the weekend trek, lifting the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 win over the Kapuskasing Flyers.

Brendan Gillis of the Thunderbirds and Chad Robert of the Flyers had traded first period goals in the very low-scoring affair. That was not a description that would fit the bill on Sunday as the Sault showed little sign of weekend fatigue, scoring five goals in the final twenty minutes and blasting the Timmins Majors 8-0.

Gillis drilled a hat-trick to show the way for the T-Birds, with Mackay adding a pair. The remaining three tallies came courtesy of Lucas Miller, Fanti and Thrower, with Joey Roberts recording the shutout for Sault Ste Marie.

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The North Bay Trappers snapped a seven-game losing skid Sunday in Kapuskasing, upending the Flyers 5-2. The visitors held a 3-2 lead after forty minutes of play, and padded their cushion on goals from Jack Drinkwalter and Conor Eastaugh.

The Timmins Majors also picked up a win on the weekend, knocking off the Trappers 6-4 Saturday at home. Wayne Mathieu registered a pair of goals and an assist for coach Matt Tremblay and company, as the Majors looked to build off a very solid weekend at the Big Nickel Tournament in Sudbury.

The upcoming schedule this week kicks off early, as the top two go at it Wednesday night in Sudbury, with the Thunderbirds and Nickel Capital Wolves facing off at 7:30 p.m. Kapuskasing and New Liskeard head southwest for games against both Nickel City and Sudbury on the weekend, while North Bay welcomes Timmins to the Gateway City for a two-game set.

One final note, as fans of Midget "AAA" hockey in Sudbury might want to circle the date of Saturday, December 27th. On that night, the Nickel Capital Wolves and Nickel City Sons will faceoff in a matchup that also pays tribute to former Sudbury player D.J. Hancock.

A number of events are being finalized in and around the game, with tickets being sold for $20 apiece and proceeds being disbursed to the D.J. Hancock Memorial Bursary. "This all kind of came together as a result of Peter (Michelutti), Jeff (Forsyth), Jordan (Kuruliak) and I sitting and talking about what we should do," explained Sudbury GM Albert Corradini.

"And we talked with the family, to make sure that we were respectful of what they wanted." In terms of choosing the appropriate game, Corradini acknowledges that Nickel City was an easy choice.

"The kids on both teams all know each other, and D.J. had played at times with kids on both teams," he said. Tickets are currently on sale and can be obtained at End of the Roll, Skaters Edge, and from players/parents of both the Sudbury Nickel Capital Wolves and Nickel City Sons.


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