U18 Wolves rep team championships coming up

This weekend the Niagara-on-the-Lake Wolves Under-18 rep hockey team completes a best-of-three series against the Fort Erie Meteors to decide the Niagara District Hockey League’s Tier One championship. 

The following weekend, both teams will be making the trip to Barrie for the Ontario Minor Hockey Association championships against 10 other teams from across the province. 

These two weekends will mark the final hurrah for more than half of the Wolves, who will be too old to play minor hockey next year. 

For 17-year-old Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School student Sam Walker, the feeling is very bittersweet, as he is unable to play in any upcoming games due to a wrist injury. 

“I’m glad that my last year is with these guys,” Walker told The Local at Monday night’s practice. “We talked a lot about it earlier in the season, but we’re really just giving it all we have. Even the kids that still have next year to play, they’ve come together knowing it’s our last year. It’s been special. It’s a great group of guys.”

The Wolves roared out of the gates in their first four games back in October, reeling off two wins and two ties in league competition. But that was followed by seven straight losses during which they were shut out three times and totalled only seven goals. 

“And in our first two tournaments,” assistant captain Walker added, “we really struggled to put the puck in the net.”

But they turned things around when they really needed to in February, entering the four-team round robin playoffs against Fort Erie, Pelham and Port Colborne. The Wolves finished with a record of 3-2-1, capping it off with a 3-1 win over the Meteors in Virgil to take second place and earn the berth at the provincial championships.

“We really pulled things together,” head coach Tim Marotta said Monday. “We had a lot of injuries. Once everybody got healthy, that’s when they really started to challenge some of the other teams. They kept working hard and sticking to their game, and they played very well, played some really smart hockey in the playoffs.”

Speaking to Marotta and a number of team members Monday, it was clear that many felt the team’s two goaltenders, Theo VanderKaay and Mateo Gruosso, were perhaps the biggest factors in qualifying for the chance to go to Barrie.

Gruosso was missing from practice Monday as he was in Abruzzo, Italy, showcasing his talents as a centre midfielder for Pescara Calcio, a Serie C professional soccer club. 

The Queenston Road resident started his minor hockey journey in NOTL, but at 11 years old he moved up to AA hockey. A year later Gruosso jumped to the Hamilton Bulldogs AAA program. Last year, he took a step closer to coming home by playing with the Niagara North Stars AAA team. Then came the Ontario Hockey League draft.

“I got interviewed by a couple of teams,” Gruosso said on the line from Pescara. “Nothing really came of it. I had a decision to make, do I try to catch on with a junior team? Instead, I decided to go back to what I was most comfortable with, to where I can make the most memories down the road.”

Returning to NOTL meant a chance for the St. Paul Catholic High School student to play with his younger brother Marco.

“I wouldn’t change this decision for the world,” Gruosso says. “I am playing with my best friend, my goalie partner Theo, and my brother on defence. It’s something I’ll never forget. Coming back to play with the guys I grew up with has been amazing. It means so much to me, way more than any other team I’ve played on.” 

For Gruosso’s teammate and assistant captain, Glendale resident Cole Holmes, it will be the first time playing at the provincial championships, where he knows his team will be underdogs. 

“Going into the playoffs we knew what we could do,” said the A.N. Myer Secondary School student. “We’re excited that we got here and we’re just going to continue it. We know we’re underdogs, but that’s not going to stop us.”

After hockey was interrupted by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Holmes says it wasn’t difficult to convince this group of guys to get back onto the ice.

“Everybody was ready to come back,” he says. “It’s what we’ve done our entire lives, and it’s always been fun. I played one year in Niagara Falls, and another year in St. Catharines. But I came back a few years ago and stayed. This is where I like to play.”

Another assistant captain, Marotta’s son Jack, is also aging out of minor hockey after the Barrie provincials. As Jack’s Wolves career nears its end, Marotta reflected on the potential end of his coaching career with NOTL hockey. 

“As much as it’s his hockey, it’s our hockey,” he says. “It’s going to be a bit tough not coming to the rink anymore. It’s been a real bonding experience with him.”

But he does think that Jack will have options to play the game in the future.

“He’s planning to go to the University of Guelph,” Marotta said of his son. “I don’t know if he’ll continue to play hockey at a rec level, or if he’ll take time off then come back as an adult to play in a men’s league. The nice thing is the past couple of years these boys have figured out how to make pick-up games, especially during the pandemic. I can see them getting back together at Christmas to play.”

Before that, and before the provincials, there’s the series against Fort Erie. Winning it would certainly give the NOTL team bragging rights and added confidence heading to Barrie. 

“They’ve been a thorn in our side all year,” Walker said of the Meteors, against whom the Wolves went 2-7 this season. “They put a good beating on us. But the last two games we’ve really played well against them (a 2-1 loss and a 3-1 win against Fort Erie in the round robin). It would be nice to prove that we’re a better team than them.”

Game one of the Niagara league’s Tier One championships goes Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Fort Erie, while game two is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. at Virgil’s Meridian Credit Union Arena. If a game three is necessary, it will be back in Fort Erie Sunday night at 7 p.m. 

At Saturday’s game in Virgil, the 12 seniors on the team who are ‘graduating’ this year, most of whom have at least 10 years of NOTL minor hockey experience under their belts, will be honoured. 

“It would be great to pack the arena that night,” said trainer Jeff Dyck, whose son Griffin, the team’s captain, is one of those graduates. “Come on out and show your support.”

Also playing for championships this weekend are some of the Wolves’ house league, or local league teams.

Coach Gary Friesen’s U11’s, Matt Unruh’s U13, and James Cadeau’s U18 teams will be vying for titles over the next few days.

As well, coach Joe Pagnotta’s U11 rep team will play in their division’s OMHA tournament the weekend of April 8.