THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay AAA Kings finished another stint of Greater Toronto Hockey League play over the weekend to finish up their January portion of the schedule.

Here's a look back at how the four teams made out:

U13: Going 0-3-1, Thunder Bay began with a 7-2 setback at the hands of the Markham Majors and saw Cooper Disher provide both goals for the club.

Kainaan Macgillivray was busy between the pipes in defeat.

Next came a narrow 5-3 setback against one of the top sides in the 13-team U13 division, the Toronto Marlboros.

Brady Nash supplied all three Kings’ tallies while Disher dished out two assists.

Carter Johnson suffered the loss in the evenly-played match-up.

That was followed by a hard-fought 2-2 draw with the Toronto Young Nationals, backed by Macgillivray’s 29-save performance.

Benton Ashworth provided the initial goal for Thunder Bay, then battling right to the end saw Disher bang-in the equalizer with 22 seconds remaining in the third period.

They then completed their latest four-game slate with a narrow 5-3 defeat against the league-leading Toronto Jr. Canadiens, have only lost twice all season.

Nash played a hand in all three Thunder Bay markers with a goal and two assists.

They also saw Gavin Godick and Mason Glousher supply singles, with Disher chipping in with a couple of helpers.

Johnson and Macgillivray both saw time in net.

U15: Taking on the front-running Vaughan Kings in their opener, Thunder Bay fell short by a 4-1 count.

Kade Hockenhull, on the power play, brought his side to within one in the final frame, before Vaughan tacked on a pair of late man advantage markers, to secure the result.

Goalkeeper Charlie Weiss did his part keeping his team in it, making 40 saves along the way.

Then came back-to-back meetings with the Toronto Marlboros and Toronto Jr. Canadiens, who are currently tied for second overall in GTHL U15 standings.

Against the Marlboros, the Kings held a 2-0 lead into the latter stages of the proceedings on goals from Jacob Witiluk, who went top shelf from the point, and Mitch Smith finishing off a nice three-way passing play with Reggie Taylor and Kieran Lemmetty.

However the Marlboros countered late by striking twice in the final five minutes, including providing the equalizer in the final minute with their goalkeeper out for an extra attacker.

Thunder Bay goaltender Brady Cates impressed with 33 stops.

They had no answer for the highly-skilled Jr. Canadiens though, suffering an 8-0 loss.

Answering back with solid response Sunday, the Kings skated to a 2-2 tie with the Markham Majors.

Taylor and Layton Hanson both found the back of the net before the Majors scored on a two-man advantage deep into the third period.

Markham then got a favourable deflection in the waning moments with their netminder out for an additional skater to pull out the late draw.

Thunder Bay once again received solid goalkeeping, with Weiss turning aside 27 of the 29 chances he faced.

U16: The under-16 Kings had two tough games against the highly-touted Toronto Marlboros, who have come away victorious in 12 straight contests and boast the best goals-for percentage in the division.

They in turn proved their mettle with wins by scores of 9-0 and 6-1.

Thunder Bay battled hard versus another talented team, the first place Jr. Canadiens, who are 22-2-3, but came up on the short end of a 3-1 loss.

A 3-0 triumph over the Reps Hockey Club helped them pull even in the standings with them.

U18: Going .500 over the weekend, the Kings went 1-1-2 overall.

The U18s began with 4-4 tie with the Toronto Young Nationals, who won the 2019 TELUS Cup, Canadian U18 national championship, at the Fort William Gardens.

Getting the goals for Thunder Bay were Brady Butvin, Jordan Fanti, Isaac Cain and Peter Forester, while Sam Keene played in net.

Another draw came in the club’s second outing as they drew 1-1 with the Toronto Red Wings.

Lucas Bertolin provided the goal with help from Evan Lachimea and Mitch Vanderwey.

Helping the Kings pick-up a point was goaltender Travis Smith.

They were then blanked 4-0 by the Mississauga Senators with Keene suffering the defeat.

Wrapping up play, Thunder Bay was all business as they dumped the Markham Majors 8-3.

Pacing the Kings offensively was Forester, who notched a hat trick and had an assist.

Bertolin chipped in with two tallies while Lachimea had a goal and two helpers.

Also finding the back of the net were Matthew Lysak and Ben Exell.

Meanwhile, Emerson DeGiacomo doled out a season-high four assists in the victory.

Picking up the victory was Smith.

The Kings head back to Toronto February 3-5 for more GTHL competition.

KINGS GTHL RECORD (As of Jan. 25)
U-18: 8-14-6
U-16: 6-19-3
U-15: 4-19-4
U-13: 3-21-4

Photo credit: James Mirabelli