Great North showdown looms
The top two teams in the Great North Midget Hockey League will face off in a crucial three-game showdown slated for John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie next weekend.
Tied for first place with 37 points apiece, the North Bay Trappers do hold the advantage with two games in hand on the Soo Greyhounds.
North Bay has a record of 18-2-1 from 21 games. The Soo has a record of 17-3-3 from 23 games.
The Trappers have won both head-to-head matchups with the Greyhounds this season — by 6-5 and 6-3 scores, with both games played in North Bay.
Lucas Theriault, a 2016 Ontario Hockey League draft pick of the Niagara IceDogs, tops the Great North scoring chart with 19 goals, 32 assists, 51 points.
Three other Soo forwards rank third, fourth and fifth in league scoring — Noah Boman has 21 goals, 19 assists, 40 points followed by Caleb Wood at 21-18-39 and Camaryn Baber at 21-15-36.
North Bay has two forwards tied for eighth place with 25 points apiece — Joe Whittet is 12-13-25 and Nick Davis is 8-17-25.
As they have the best goals against average in the GNMHL — the Trappers have given up only 38 goals in 21 games while the Greyhounds have allowed 66 in 23 outings — North Bay also boasts a number of puck-moving defensemen, including 2016 OHL draft picks Jake Gravelle (Mississauga Steelheads) and Dylan Bond (Saginaw Spirit.)
Gravelle has 9 goals, 14 assists, 23 points while Bond has 8 goals, 9 assists, 17 points for the Trappers thus far this season.
As for the 2017 OHL draft, the aforementioned Baber of the Soo is considered a top prospect.
North Bay, meanwhile, has several players who figure to garner attention at the 2017 OHL draft including goalie Joel Rainville, defenseman Payton Vescio and forwards Cole Craft and Ryan Mills.
Both Baber and Vescio have high-performance, OHL bloodlines.
Baber is the son of former Soo Greyhounds, 1993 Memorial Cup champion right winger Brad Baber.
Vescio is the son of Kevin Vescio, who patrolled the blueline for the erstwhile North Bay Centennials from 1982 to 1986 while learning the game from legendary coach Bert Templeton.