KITCHENER, ON - The North Bay & District U16 AAA Trappers went unbeaten on the weekend as they defeated the Toronto Young Nationals 2-1 in overtime to capture the gold at the Kitchener Blueline Tournament in the U16 AAA Division which ended Sunday evening.
Jesse Lefebvre scored the game-winning goal after a tremendous backchecking effort by Nate Gravelle who forced a turnover with 10 seconds remaining in 3 on 3 overtime, and Zach Major took the puck, spun around, and fed a wide-open Jesse Lefebvre for the tap in game-winner.
"Gravelle caused a turnover and gave Zach the puck and I read the play and went to the net and it was a beautiful pass by Zach to me and all I had to do was put it in it was a good team effort," said the hard-working Lefebvre about the game-winner.
Masen Wray forced overtime as he scored the tying goal in the final minute with goalie Kaleb Papineau on the bench for the extra attacker.
Papineau was named the Tournament MVP.
Longtime coach Guy Blanchard has gotten the U16 AAA Trappers playing well as, combined with Great North Midget League play, the young squad is on a 10-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1).
"Our team has been kind of stepping up our game since a win over Soo U18's and we have been on a little roll and they are building some confidence," said Blanchard.
"They are starting to move the puck a lot better especially coming out of our zone and they competed hard all weekend. They had one bad game which resulted in a tie but after that, we played well and the boys worked hard."
Blanchard says that hard work literally showed as the Trappers worked hard right down until the last second.
"They didn't quit, after the second period they were down 1 and I told them they have 15 minutes to score to tie it up," said Blanchard.
"They waited to the last minute but it doesn't matter it was still part of the 15 minutes."
The tournament win was huge on a number of levels for this age group. Many of the games had OHL scouts attending as the U16 AAA Trappers players will be eligible to be selected in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection. The victory also showed how important it was to keep this age group together. Earlier this summer, there was talk due to tryout numbers that North Bay would possibly operate only one AAA team combining the U18 and U16 age groups into one.
"Right from the beginning, we weren't sure if we were going to have a major team and we were struggling with numbers but we ended up making things work," said Blanchard noting the late summer addition of Anthony Boyes and more recently Cayden Kowal.
"We are still without Lucas (Nashkawa) as we lost Jacob McGill for the whole tournament and Marshall McCharles had to come back and play defence and did a great job for us things safe back on the blueline. Many players have had to play various positions and roles and they have all bought into it with no complaining. I am proud of the boys, they worked hard," noted Blanchard.
The Trappers got to the championship game thanks to a convincing 4-0 win on Sunday morning over the Oakville Rangers. Landon Jones, Masen Wray, Heath Bradley, and Nate Gravelle had the goals while Kaleb Papineau was solid in goal getting the shutout.
On Friday, the Trappers defeated the Barrie Colts 2-1 and tied the Guelph Gryphons 2-2.
Then on Saturday, the Trappers got rolling with a 3-2 win over the Chatham-Kent Cyclones and a 5-2 win over the host Kitchener Rangers to finish 3-0-1 during round-robin play.
Team Members include: Jesse Lefebvre, Nate Gravelle, Masen Wray, Anthony Boyes, Heath Bradley, Marshall McCharles, Mason Brownlee, Caleb Dawson, Cayden Kowal, Landon Jones, Albert Bouley, Zach Major, Davis Anello, Ayden Thomason, Jacob McGill, Grayson Bradley, Lucas Nashkawa, Michael Purkhart and Kaleb Papineau. Coaches: Guy Blanchard, Bob Lekun. Trainer: Andre Guenette. Manager: Denis Major.