Pee wee minors home to Green Bay
Soo Greyhounds pee wee minors will prepare for the forthcoming championship series in the Northern Ontario AAA Hockey League with a three-game tuneup this weekend against the visiting Green Bay Jr. Gamblers.
The Greyhound pee wee minors will play host to Green Bay on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at John Rhodes Community Centre and Saturday at 6 p.m. at McMeeken Centre before wrapping up the three-game set on Sunday morning at 8:30 at Rankin Arena.
Within the NOHL, the local pee wee minors have a first-round playoff bye by virtue of a first-place regular-season finish.
Not only did the Greyhounds finish atop the regular-season standings with a near-perfect record of 19-0-1 but they featured eight of the top 10 scorers and the top two goal-tenders in the NOHL’s pee wee minor division.
The Soo is awaiting the winner of the North Bay Trappers-Nickel City Sons semi-final series before beginning its pursuit of the NOHL pee wee minor playoff crown.
Individually, Tyson Doucette of the Greyhounds led the NOHL in scoring with 22 goals, 18 assists, 40 points.
Other Greyhound skaters who finished among the league’s top 10 scorers were Calem Mangone, Devin Mauro, Christian Omollo, Nathan Palmer, Eben Leadbetter, Ashton Lemieux and Connor Toms.
Mangone had 17 goals, 20 assists, 37 points followed by Mauro at 12-18-30, Omollo at 13-16-29, Palmer at 11-16-27, Leadbetter at 8-17-25, Lemieux at 9-10-19 and Toms at 13-5-18.
Between the pipes, Ariella Merlino of the Greyhounds led all NOHL pee wee minor goalies with 11 wins and a 1.83 goals against average.
Merlino’s net-minding partner, Noah Metivier, had the second-best numbers in the league with 8 wins and a 2.35 goals against average.
Merlino and Metivier divided time equally in goal.
Besides playing within the NOHL, the Greyhound pee wee minors have faced off against top Ontario and U.S. competition over the course of the regular season.
In all, the Soo pee wee minors have played 58 games and posted an impressive record of 41-13-4 thus far this season.
The Greyhound pee wee minors are part of Sault Minor Hockey and are led by a staff that includes head coach Dave Doucette, assistant coach Jeff Toms, goalie coach Sav Beltrano, manager Steve Fenlon and trainer Vince Merlino.