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Jr. Greyhounds battle to top four finish at Ontario Winter Games

This is the first time in 10 years that a team from Sault Ste Marie has represented the city and NOHA at the Ontario Winter Games
team on boards
The 12-year-old boys had the opportunity to stay in athletes’ village, took part of the opening ceremonies, played against the best teams in the country and made memories of a life time. Photo provided by The Soo Jr Greyhounds

NEWS RELEASE
PEEWEE MAJOR SOO JR GREYHOUNDS 
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It has been 10 years since a team from Sault Ste Marie represented the city and NOHA at the Ontario Winter Games. At that time, the ’97 AAA Jr Hounds went 0-3 at the Games. This years Peewee Major AAA Soo Jr Greyhounds, who are all born in 2007, were 1 of 8 teams competing for gold in Mens Hockey at the Orillia 2020 Ontario Winter Games this past weekend. It was a great experience for these 12 year old boys who stayed in athletes’ village, took part of the opening ceremonies, played against the best teams in the country and made memories of a life time.  

For the coach of the Soo Jr Greyhounds, Chris Huckson, his only expectation for weekend was for his team to play their game to the best of their ability and to never quit, no matter what happened. In the round robin, the Jr Hounds would face the top teams from the OMHA, HEO, GTHL associations and would finish with a 2-1 record only losing to the Toronto Jr Canadians in the round robin. That would be good enough to qualify them for the semi finals and a birth into the medal rounds on Sunday. The Final four would be made up of the Toronto Marlboros (ranked first in Canada/Ontario), London Jr Knights (ranked second in Canada/Ontario), Toronto Jr Canadians (ranked third in Canada/Ontario) and the Soo Jr Greyhounds (ranked 64 Canada/42 Ontario).   

The Jr Hounds would work hard against the London Jr Knights in the Semi Finals on Saturday night, but would not be enough, putting them in the Bronze Medal game Sunday morning. The Jr Hounds did not stop competing the entire tournament but would fall short again to the Toronto Marlboros, who took home the bronze medal. Being in the top four teams in this prestige event was an accomplishment in itself. For the Peewee Major Soo Jr Greyhounds, it proved that heart and hard work means more than where you sit in the rankings especially when you are from the North.  

The Peewee Major AAA Soo Jr Greyhounds will now build from this experience as they finish their playoff run where they are leading the Sudbury Jr Wolves 2-0 in the best of 5 series in the first round of the NOHLAAA playoffs. The winner of the NOHLAAA playoffs will also win the NOHA Championship and a ticket to the OHF Championships in April.  If the Jr Hounds win their playoffs, they will get a second chance to play the tops teams in Canada/Ontario again.  

Peewee Major AAA Soo Jr Greyhounds Drew Allison, Ethan Ferguson, Declan Gallivan, Rylan Fellinger, Candon O'Neill, Tyler Neveau, Coulson Bell, Hudson Chitaroni, Griffen Albert, Nathan Guizzetti, Carter Huckson, Treyce Moran, Lucas DiBerardino, Deven Jones McDonald, Brendan Cooke, Nicholas Marson and Carter Nadon. Coaches: Chris Huckson, Mark Allison, Steve Quennell, Beau Neveau, David Guizzetti and Mike Gallivan 

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