On paper, the ‘A’ final of the Knights of Columbus PeeWee ‘AA’ hockey tournament had all the makings of a classic match-up Sunday morning at the Ice for Kids Arena here.
At one end of the ice, the local Knights of Columbus were looking to cap off what would be an undefeated weekend with one final win and hoist the trophy as tournament champs in front of the home-town crowd.
At the other end, the Thunder Bay Volunteer Pool Bearcats were looking to avenge an earlier round-robin loss to the Knights and skate out of town with the tournament crown.
And while most games that are long on potential often are short on results, this one delivered—and then some.
After a back-and-forth battle that required overtime to settle things, the Knights emerged with a 4-3 win for the tourney title.
“I think, for the most part, we played great as a team,” Knights’ head coach Wayne Strachan said outside a boisterous locker-room following the game.
“We’ve been talking about putting 45 minutes together in a game and the boys came out and really worked hard,” he added.
Adding to the lustre of the Knights’ win was the mental toughness displayed by its players.
The home side squandered a two-goal lead late in the game (the Bearcats’ tying goal coming with only 14.8 seconds left in regulation time) before rallying in overtime to earn the win.
“To tie the game up with 14 seconds, our whole bench was devastated, more or less,” Strachan recalled.
“After we called a time-out and in between periods, we talked about never being too high and never being too low,” he added. “We wanted them to keep their emotions on an even keel and that’s what they did.
“We popped right back, played hard for the two-and-a-half minutes of the overtime, and we deserved to win,” Strachan stressed.
While the mood was much more somber in the Bearcats’ dressing room after the game, there still was a sense of great accomplishment in the air.
“It’s tough but you know what, we played a very good team two times and we lost by one goal in each game,” head coach Peter de Haan said.
“We’ll go home thinking, ‘If we can do well against Fort, we should do well at home.’”
The Knights took the game to the Bearcats right from the opening face-off. Their relentless attack and quick puck movement had the visitors on their heels and was effective in drawing several penalties.
Had it not been for some stellar goaltending by Brandon Basaraba, the Bearcats might have found themselves down several goals early on.
“We challenged him before the game to step up because we knew Fort Frances can shoot the puck and bury the puck,” de Haan said of his goalie’s impressive performance.
“We asked him to step up and he played a whale of a game.”
Lead by Basaraba, the Bearcats weathered the early storm and the game remained scoreless as the buzzer sounded for the first intermission.
Despite also pressing the attack at the outset of the second period, it was the Knights who surrendered the game’s opening goal when Kevin Kurm intercepted a pass, strode into the offensive zone, and wired a slapshot that beat Scott Parsons top shelf.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Knights solved Basaraba
less than a minute later when Brady McMahon collected a loose puck in the high slot, turned, and fired a wrist shot that eluded the Bearcats’ goalie and tied the game at 1-1.
Nic Jourdain and Donovan Cousineau drew the assists.
The Knights then struck again less than 20 seconds later when the rebound from a Bryce Knapp shot found its way onto Colton Spicer’s stick, who was parked at the side of the Bearcats’ crease.
With Basaraba out of position after making the initial save, Spicer fired the puck into the yawning cage to give the Knights their first lead of the game.
Jordan Larson earned the second assist on Spicer’s goal.
The Knights continued to press the attack for the rest of the second period but were unable to beat Basaraba prior to intermission.
Controversy erupted early in the third period when Spicer broke in on a partial breakaway.
Thunder Bay’s defender made a diving swipe at the puck but it was deemed his stick made contact with Spicer prior to knocking the puck away and a penalty shot was awarded.
And Spicer made no mistake converting the opportunity, faking to his backhand before firing a wrist shot that beat Basaraba to the stick side—putting the Knights up 3-1 with just under six-and-a-half minutes to go in regulation time.
The celebration proved to be short-lived, though, as Kurm scored his second of the game before Eric Burton tied the game with 14 seconds on the clock and with Basaraba on the bench for the extra attacker.
Both Basaraba and Parsons shone in the opening moments of the extra period—making game-saving stops for their respective teams.
However, Spicer would not be denied his hat trick as he buried the rebound from a Robbie Rea shot past Basaraba to give the Knights a 4-3 win and the tourney title.
The Knights had opened the eight-team tournament with a 9-0 win over the Kenora Thistles.
Spicer led the way with a hat trick while Jourdain and Cousineau each added a pair of goals. Jacob Hawley and Ryan Mosbeck rounded out the scoring.
Then in their second round-robin game, the Knights skated to a 3-2 victory over the Bearcats on goals by Judd Gardiman, Rea, and Larson.
The Knights wrapped up round-robin play with a 4-1 win over the Norwest Stars (Thunder Bay), with Cousineau, Rea, Larson, and Brandon McGinnis hitting the twine.
Then the Dryden Apollos offered little in the way of opposition in the ‘A’ division semi-finals as the Knights cruised to an easy 9-1 win.
Spicer once again led the way, netting another hat trick, while McGinnis added a pair of goals. McMahon, Ryan Windigo, Rea, and Knapp rounded out the scoring.
The Bearcats, meanwhile, advanced to the ‘A’ final after posting a 2-1 record in round-robin play.
They opened the tournament with the loss to the Knights, but rebounded with a 3-2 win over the Kenora Thistles and then a 7-1 romp over the Norwest Stars.
The Bearcats then beat the Knights of Columbus Sabres (Thunder Bay) 7-1 in the other ‘A’ semi-final.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
