Sudbury Pinnacle Sports Peewees take provincial bronze

The Pinnacle Sports AAA major peewee Wolves captured the bronze Medal at the all-Ontario Major Peewee AAA Championships in Thunder Bay on Saturday.

The Wolves defeated the No. 2-ranked Oakville Rangers in a thrilling 4-3 overtime victory.

The Wolves, who had lost 4-2 to Oakville on an empty netter during round-robin play, made good on their goal of medalling at the championship by upsetting the Rangers in the bronze game.

The Wolves came out of the gates flying and quickly went up 1-0 on a goal by Tyler Bertuzzi. They continued to roll and opened up a three-goal cushion in the second, with Jacob Smith and Malcolm Bilton both beating the Oakville goaltender.

Oakville countered to make it 3-1 entering the third period.

Oakville continued to pressure the Wolves in the third and tied the game at 3-3 with two unanswered goals.

The Wolves came out with lots of energy in OT and nearly ended it when Josh Moore just missed the top corner on a great individual effort.

The Wolves continued to pressure Oakville and Michael Laidley became the hero, ending it in overtime on a setup from Bertuzzi.

"We are very proud to have represented the North and to reach our goal of returning to Sudbury with a medal is a great bonus," Sudbury head coach Albert Bertuzzi said. "I honestly believe that we were the second-best team in the championships. Circumstances led us to having to face the Red Wings in the semis.

"We were able to play them tough and challenge them in both of our games. We definitely were the only team able to accomplish that at these championships. I am very pleased and proud of the boys' effort. At the end of the day, we are the third-best team in the province."

The Toronto Red Wings dominated the London Knights in the gold medal game, winning in an 8-2 blowout