Despite outscoring the six other teams vying for the U13AAA Ontario championship in Greater Sudbury over the weekend, the North Bay Trappers took silver.
The 2025 provincial tournament held April 9 – 13 was co-hosted by Sudbury Minor Hockey Association and Northern Ontario Hockey Association.
Of the three northern teams competing – including the Sudbury Wolves and the Thunder Bay Kings – the Trappers were the only one that made it to the finals Sunday.
“The tournament was a fantastic showcase of talent, and the U13 AAA division was no exception,” Zach DeForest, of Ontario Hockey Federation, told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca in an email Monday.
“North Bay had an impressive season leading up to the All-Ontario Championship and their performance this past weekend was a showcase of that success.”
In their first game against each other in the tournament, the Trappers beat the Barrie Colts 7-3.
They weren’t so fortunate when they faced them again in the final.
In the gold medal game, the Trappers were the first to get on the board with one goal scored unassisted by Jordan Adekoya in the first period.
The Colts answered with two goals in the second period by Luke Kanyo and Avery Sherrit and another two in the third by Ryan Robbins and then Andrew Martins on the power play.
Sawyer Gedanitz scored unassisted in the third period for North Bay.
The final score was 4-2, giving the Colts the gold.
“Finishing first in the standings and earning a spot in the championship game speaks volumes about the strength and consistency of the team,” DeForest said.
“Securing a silver medal at this level, against the best of the best, is a tremendous accomplishment and a true testament to the hard work of the players, coaches, and entire organization—they should be very proud of themselves.”
This is the first time Barrie has taken home the trophy.
The North Bay team scored the most and had the best +/- in the tournament with a total of 45 goals for and 22 against in eight games.
In all, they recorded six wins and two losses.
Chatham-Kent Cyclones won bronze over the Ottawa Valley Titans.
Sudbury, the hosts, won one game out of the six they played while Thunder Bay lost all of theirs.
A northern Ontario team has only ever won the provincial championship two times.
The last was Thunder Bay in the 1979-180 season and before that, it was Sudbury in 1969-1970.
While the Vaughan Kings took the title last year, they ranked fifth place this year - winning three and losing three.
