Cowboys singed by Flames here

The Flames left the Emo Cowboys feeling burned.
Sal Bisignano had a goal and an assist as the North End Flames (Thunder Bay) blanked the Cowboys 3-0 in Sunday morning’s semi-final of the seven-team Midget ‘A’ invitational hockey tournament here.
The Cowboys had hoped to ride the momentum of their back-to-back victories Saturday, the second of which came in the quarter-finals over the Thunder Bay Elks.
But after a scoreless first period, Bisignano scored with less than five minutes left in the second to break the deadlock on a set-up from Eric Hjorth and Steve Gibson.
Then early in the third, Bisignano started a three-way play that ended with Eric Crupi hitting for a 2-0 lead.
Kevin Sirois added the final nail in the coffin with 5:09 to go to send the Flames to the ‘A’ final later Sunday, where they were beaten 3-1 by the West End Bruins in an all-Thunder Bay showdown.
The Elks, meanwhile, regrouped from their Saturday loss by downing Winnipeg Southdale 4-3 in the ‘B’ final Sunday.
The Cowboys had busted out of the chute with a 5-0 whitewash of Pokey’s Van (Fort Frances) in their preliminary round opener. Travis Strachan, Dan Hettinga, and Craig McTavish scored in a span of 2:29 to stake Emo to a 3-0 lead after the first.
Jacob Boettcher tallied in each of the last two periods to complete the scoring while Mac Lougheed registered two assists.
But the Flames provided a sign of things to come by topping the Cowboys 3-1 on Friday evening.
Bisignano and Steve Sirois scored in the first and second periods, respectively, before Boettcher cut the lead in half early in the third on a set-up from Dennis Mutz and Hettinga.
But Hjorth netted the insurance marker for the Flames with just over four minutes to play.
The Bruins then jumped out to a 4-0 second-period lead en route to a 5-2 win over the Cowboys on Saturday morning.
Michael Zachary scored twice for West End, with Mitchell Joyce adding a goal and two assists while Matthew Mitchell and Chris McCallum each tallied once. Scott Galusha and Strachan replied for Emo.
The Cowboys wrapped up preliminary-round play in third place with a 2-2 mark after scoring twice in the third period to earn a 6-4 victory over the Elks on Saturday afternoon.
Mutz notched a pair of goals, while Galusha, Jeremy Hyatt, Boettcher, and McTavish added singles. Andrew Buset netted two for the Elks, with Bradley Mauro and Daniel Morris each scoring once.
Then in the quarter-final rematch later Saturday, Jeff Hyatt’s goal with 1:54 left in the first period turned out to be the game-winner as the Cowboys relegated the Elks to the ‘B’ side with a 3-1 win.
Ryan Mutz and McTavish had Emo’s other Emo goals while Shawn Flink had the Elks’ lone tally.