U18 Wolves end year on winning note but fall short of OMHA title

Sometimes in sports the old cliches ring painfully true. 

For the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves U18 rep team, ‘That’s the way the puck bounces’ and ‘It’s the luck of the draw’ continue to resonate days after they were eliminated at the Ontario Minor Hockey Association’s Tier 1 championships in Kingston on the weekend.

For the pool-play round at the OMHAs, the Wolves were placed in a four-team group with the Elmvale Coyotes, Mitchell Meteors and Petrolia Oilers. When the round was done, they had one win and two losses, placing them third in their group, just short of qualifying for the semi-finals on Sunday. 

“Prior to the weekend I knew that we had drawn the group of death,” said head coach Devon Neudorf, borrowing another cliche from World Cup soccer. “The OMHA drew up which leagues we would be playing against. I knew every game was going to be a battle. We fell on the wrong side of things.”

The Wolves opening game Friday was a canine clash against the Coyotes. 

Elmvale came off the bench hot and scored 57 seconds into the game. The Wolves had their chances with three power play opportunities within less than seven minutes, but they came up short on all accounts. The Wolves finally were able to tie the score with 3:08 left in the first. 

The Coyotes struck again in the second with just 2:11 remaining in the period, but the Wolves knotted the score at 2-2 with a quick goal in the first minute of the third. But a fluke goal by Elmvale with 3:22 remaining turned out to be the game winner. 

“It was a wrist shot from the right side boards, near the hash marks,” said Neudorf. “It went off the post, top left corner and into the net. It was one of those shots where he just threw it at the net and it went in. The kid who shot it, he couldn’t do it again if he tried. It was very deflating to our group.”

NOTL did take possession of the puck after that, but Elmvale added an empty net goal with 17 seconds remaining for the 4-2 victory. 

Next up was the Mitchell Meteors Saturday morning. The Wolves struck first four minutes into the game on a power play, then went up 2-0 with a shorthanded goal early in the third period. 

But the Metors stormed back with two goals within a 2:16 span to tie the game. Mitchell scored with five second left in the game to win 3-2.

That left NOTL as the only team in the pool without a win heading into their final round-robin game against the 1-1 Oilers. Based on the records and goal differentials of each team, the Wolves needed to beat Petrolia at 5:00 p.m. and hope that Mitchell would beat Elmvale by at least two goals in their 7:00 p.m. meeting. 

Neudorf’s team did its part. Dylan Price beat the Oilers’ goalie on a two-on-one 23 seconds into the first period. Just 56 seconds later, Mitchell Olsen passed from blue line to blue line to Andew Bayne. Bayne took a shot that was deflected and Lucas Roberts Ramos knocked it into the net for a quick 2-0 lead. 

“I told them before the game that we had a chance to move on if we got goals early and often.” explained Neudorf. “That it would be a make-or-break situation. We came out very hot and forced Petrolia to burn their time out right away, their only one for the game.”

After a scoreless second period, it seemed the Wolves would cruise to a 2-0 victory. But the Oilers put some pressure on with a power play goal with 2:15 remaining in the third. Petrolia then pulled their goalie shortly after the ensuing faceoff and Roberts Ramos capitalized on the empty net with the insurance marker to seal the 3-1 victory and keep NOTL’s semi-final hopes alive.

Unfortunately, Mitchell and Elmvale skated to a 3-3 tie in Saturday’s final round-robin game, ousting the Wolves from contention. The Meteors beat the Parry Sound Shamrocks and the Coyotes knocked off the Lindsay Muskies to set up their finals rematch Sunday. Elmvale went on to upset Mitchell in a thrilling 4-3 overtime win for the OMHA title. 

“It was a little gut-wrenching to see those two play for the final,” Neudorf reflected. “We were so close in both of our games against those teams.”

The outcome did not, however, cloud a positive Neudorf’s assessment of his team’s play in the tournament or the entire season.

“It’s rare that you can end a season with a win in your last game without winning it all,” explained the coach. “We have a lot of players coming back next year and this shows them that all we need is that little bit more, that extra stride on the forecheck or the backcheck can make a world of difference.”

Five Wolves will not be coming back for 2024-2025. Marco Gruosso, Carter Lalonde, Nick Munera, Lucas Roberts Ramos and Logan Smythe all played their final hockey game for an NOTL Minor Hockey team Saturday, having aged out of the U18 level. 

“They took a nice picture together in front of the OMHA sign after the game,” said Neudorf. “It was great to see.that the morale of those five, and of the entire group, was so high after that third game. They are going out on a positive note.”

Looking back on the season, Neudorf added that the team played in six tournaments and the OMHA championship was the first time they didn’t make it to Sunday play. The season's biggest highlight was winning a Silver Stick tournament in Midland last November. 

“Nothing but positives,” Neudorf said of his first year coaching the NOTL U18 team. “We played against the best teams in the province this weekend and every game was a battle. These kids have made us all, the entire coaching staff, so proud all year. It was incredible to see them grow as hockey players and even more so, as young men.”