Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
The Soo Greyhounds battled hard but came up just short in a 3-2 loss to the Thunder Bay Kings on Friday, April 10th at Fort William Arena in Thunder Bay during their third game of the 2026 All-Ontario U15AAA Championships.
The Greyhounds came out strong in the opening period, setting the tone early and capitalizing midway through the frame. At 7:34 of the first period, Gregory Beckerson opened the scoring for the Soo, finishing off a strong play with assists coming from Matti Lappalainen and Wyatt Jarrett to give the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.
Thunder Bay responded quickly in the second period, tying the game just 1:10 in as Aidan Lane found the back of the net, assisted by Bentlee Wiwcharyk and Alex Simeoni. The Kings continued to push and took their first lead of the game at the 10:30 mark when Ryder Milani scored, with assists credited to Alex Simeoni and Cullen McCormack, making it 2-1 Thunder Bay after two periods.
In the third, the Greyhounds showed resilience and battled back to even the score. At 5:24, Jeremy Jarratt tied the game 2-2, finishing a play set up by Jayden Fisher-Ruck. With momentum shifting, the game remained tight until late in regulation.
However, Thunder Bay would find the difference-maker at 14:34 of the third period, when Cullen McCormack scored an unassisted goal to restore the Kings’ lead at 3-2, which would stand as the game-winner.
In goal, Ben Clayton made 12 saves on 14 shots for the Greyhounds in the loss, while Declan Scott turned aside 20 of 23 shots to earn the win for the Kings.
Greyhound forward Matti Lappalainen told Saultsports that “I think it was our work ethic and our compete level for two of the three periods and we’re only playing our game for one . We lost most of our board and stick battles leading to opportunities for Thunder Bay.”
“It was very frustrating and disappointing that we didn’t come to play in the biggest tournament of the year,” added Lappalainen.
The Greyhounds will look to bounce back as they face the York Simcoe Express on Saturday, April 11th with a 9:00 a.m. start. Meanwhile, the Kings will aim to keep their momentum going when they take on the Ottawa 67’s at 11:00 a.m. later that day.
