Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos

After punching their ticket to the 2026 All-Ontario U15AAA Championships in Thunder Bay with an undefeated 2026 NOHL AAA Playdown Championship in Sault Ste. Marie over the March 27-29 weekend, the Soo U15 AAA Greyhounds opened the provincial championships against the Vaughan Kings on April 9th.

It was a fast start for the Kings, who wasted no time getting on the board. Just 3:17 into the first period, Thomas Luksic opened the scoring with assists from Jasper Wang to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later at 4:00, Nikolaos Fegaras doubled the lead, finishing off a play set up by Thomas Luksic and Andrew Kourtis. The Kings continued to push the pace, extending their lead to 3-0 at 7:26 as Philip Madonna found the back of the net with help from Bennett Hatch.

The Greyhounds answered back at 12:11, when Hayden Brason-Doan got Soo on the board with an assist from Kadin Micomonaco, cutting the deficit to 3-1. However, the momentum was short-lived as just 12 seconds later, Lucas Caruso restored the Kings’ three-goal lead, finishing a play from Thomas Luksic and Leo Murray. The Kings struck again at 12:45, with Nikolaos Fegaras netting his second of the game off assists from Luksic and Kourtis, sending Vaughan into the intermission up 5-1.

In the second period, Vaughan continued to control the game. At 4:34, Thomas Luksic added to the lead with his second goal of the night, assisted by Jack Caravaggio and Nikolaos Fegaras. Later in the period at 13:22, Lucas Caruso picked up his second goal, scoring unassisted to make it 7-1 heading into the final frame.

The Kings showed no signs of slowing down in the third period. At 9:09, Thomas Luksic completed his hat trick, scoring with an assist from Leo Murray to extend the lead to 8-1. Just 35 seconds later at 9:44, Grady Riley capped off the scoring with a goal assisted by Philip Madonna and Bennett Hatch, sealing a 9-1 victory for Vaughan.

In goal, Carter Rome got the start for the Greyhounds, while David Stefaniak tended the crease for the Kings.

Greyhound Wyatt Jarrett told Saultsports that “I thought we came out a little slow just from the bus ride and getting used to that level of hockey. We ended up getting out battled on every puck that period. I thought we started to play our game in the second period a lot more than the first. And we were able to push back a little and play at that level just we couldn’t finish and that was the same as the third and the thing we did best in those last two periods was that we battled for every puck and didn’t give up on each other. But we are going to have to forget about that game and just keep moving onto the next, which was really good in the dressing room afterwards there was no negativity.”

“Just all there was was keep going focus on the next one. But the boys will be ready for 5 o’clock to come out hard from the start,” added Jarrett.

Next up, the Vaughan Kings will face the host Thunder Bay Kings at 7:30 p.m., while the Greyhounds will look to bounce back when they take on the Elgin Middlesex Canucks at 5:00 p.m. on day one of the championships in Thunder Bay.