Nickel Capitals show starch
They made all five of their games close, two of which went to shootout and another that was decided in overtime. All in all, the Sudbury Nickel Capitals showed grit by posting a 2-1-2 record at the Big Nickel Hockey Tournament.
Playing in the 20-team Under 18 Division at the weekend’s prestigious Big Nickel event, the Nickel Capitals looked nothing like the last place club that is off to a 1-6-0 start in the Great North Under 18 Hockey League.
The U18 Nickel Capitals won games over the Pembroke Lumber Kings and Okanagan Hockey Ontario by 4-3 and 4-1 scores and lost by narrow 4-3, 3-2 and 4-2 margins to Tripen Osprey, Central Ontario Wolves and the Waterloo Wolves. The loss to no. 1 seed Waterloo came in the quarter-final playoffs of the tournament.
Caden Dubreuil led the Nickel Capitals in scoring through the five games with three goals, three assists, six points. And the Nickel Capitals got good goaltending from Keiran Ouellette and A.J. Borrelli throughout the tournament.
Prominently, Borrelli, a Sault Ste. Marie native who moved to Sudbury to play for the Nickel Capitals this season, had a 1-0-1 record and stopped 62 of 68 shots for a .912 save percentage.
Who won the tournament?