Photo Credit Saultsports Clips
On November 22nd and 23rd, the Soo U18 Greyhounds hosted the New Liskeard Cubs for a back-to-back weekend series in Sault Ste. Marie, meeting at both the GFL Memorial Gardens and the John Rhodes Community Centre for GNU18HL action. The Greyhounds dominated the opening matchup on Saturday night before engaging in a tight, spirited rematch on Sunday morning.
Greyhounds roll to 9–1 win in Saturday opener with an offensive showcase from the Greyhounds, who skated to a decisive 9–1 victory on Saturday evening.
In a spirited affair on Saturday, the Greyhounds struck first at 7:49 when Andrew Aikens netted his third of the season unassisted.
New Liskeard responded at 11:41 with Brady Krieger picking up his fourth of the season, assisted by Morgan Curran.
Just 25 seconds later at 12:06, the Soo regained the lead as Hunter Thorkilson buried his eighth of the year, set up by Jacob Vincent and Espen Escasa.
The Hounds took control in the middle frame. At 7:20, defenceman Frankie Reda scored his seventh of the season on the power play, assisted by Escasa and Nico Bossio.
Another power-play marker came at 12:41 from Finlay Escasa, with Thorkilson earning the lone assist.
Thorkilson added his second of the game and ninth of the season at 19:38, converting on a setup from Reda and Anthony Carbone, sending the Soo into the intermission firmly in command.
The Greyhounds continued piling on in the third.
At 1:40, Jacob Vincent scored his ninth of the campaign on the power play, assisted by Nathan Dupuis and Escasa.
Myka Venneri recorded his first of the season at 3:03, with helpers from Anthony Spironello and Liam Clark.
At 6:48, Espen Escasa buried his 14th of the year, assisted by Spironello and Aikens.
Thorkilson completed the dominant performance with his third of the night and 10th of the season at 10:07, set up by Spironello.
New Liskeard split the goaltending duties between Cooper Peever and Morgan Hyndman, while the Greyhounds used both Gavin Zuccato and Sebastien Brassard in the win.
Cubs battled back for 3–2 victory in Sunday rematch with game two of the weekend took place Sunday morning at the John Rhodes Centre, where the Cubs came out determined to earn a split—and succeeded with a hard-fought 3–2 win.
New Liskeard opened the scoring at 8:22 of the first when Brady Krieger collected his fifth of the season, assisted by Loic Doire.
In the second period, the Greyhounds responded on the man advantage at 6:42, with Nico Bossio scoring his 11th of the year from Dreyon Boissoneau and Makks Demidovich.
Another Soo power-play goal followed at 11:56, this time from Espen Escasa—his 15th—set up by Vincent and Bossio, giving the Greyhounds a 2–1 lead entering the final frame.
The Cubs surged back early in the third period.
At 7:32, Loic Doire tied the game with his seventh of the season on the power play, with assists from Morgan Curran and Keiran McCoy.
Just 15 seconds later at 7:47, Doire struck again—his eighth—on a feed from Emerik Bray, giving New Liskeard a lead they would not relinquish.
Greyhound assistant coach Keegan Stevenson told Saultsports that “the coaching staff was pretty disappointed today. We had a great game Saturday where the guys followed our systems, worked hard, got in the battles, and used our speed. Today’s game, we got away from doing those things, which ended up with our team losing. A big aspect of our overall game that we need to work on is our consistency in every game.”
“This week, we will be working on a few things in practice to help us get back to playing the way we should be. We need to have a couple high paced and high energy practices to get prepared and excited going into next weeks tournament in Sarnia,” added Stevenson.
Looking ahead, the Soo U18 Greyhounds now turn their attention to a busy stretch on the road from November 27th to 30th, when they will compete in the 2025 Silver Stick Tournament in Sarnia, Ontario.
