Bulldogs bite Cougars in ‘B’ final

Who let the dogs out?
The MEC Bulldogs wrapped up the 10-team Atom ‘A’ tournament here last weekend with a 3-1 win over the Causeway Cougars in the ‘B’ final Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless first period, Matt McLellan netted Causeway’s lone goal in the second for a brief 1-0 lead but it was all Bulldogs after that.
First, Shane Loyie tied the game later in the second, then Mitchell Cain and Garrett Howells added third-period goals to ice the victory in the all-Fort Frances ‘B’ final.
Playing in Pool ‘B,’ the Bulldogs opened round-robin action with a narrow 4-3 loss to the Emo Selects.
Ryan Witherspoon, assisted by Matt Beacham, had given Emo the early 1-0 lead. Darren Foster (Logan Allen) tied the game up moments later but Luke Judson tallied unassisted to make it 2-1 after one.
After Witherspoon (Beacham) made it 3-1 for Emo, the Bulldogs roared back with goals by Cain (Chad Dustak) and Robert Leimenstoll (unassisted) to knot the game at 3-3 heading into the third.
But Emo scored the lone goal of the period (by Judson) to win the game.
In the second game against the Tom Thumb Rangers (a Fort Frances Novice affiliate team), Loyie netted the lone goal in the first and then the Bulldogs hung on for a 1-0 victory.
Then the Bulldogs eked out a narrow 3-2 win over the West End Bruins (the eventual ‘A’ champs). The goal scorers for that game were not available.
But the Bulldogs had to settle for third place in Pool ‘B’ after losing 3-2 to the Causeway Cougars on Saturday afternoon.
After a scoreless first period, the Cougars rattled home all three of their goals in the second by McLellan (two) and Brendan Bruyere.
The Bulldogs fought back with a pair of goals later in the third by Allen (Loyie) and Cain (unassisted) but they could not net the equalizer.
That put the Bulldogs in the ‘B’ Division playoffs Sunday morning against the Gillons’ Sharks (Fort Frances), who had finished fourth in Pool ‘A’.
And MEC advanced to the ‘B’ final with a narrow 2-1 win.
Allen netted both goals for the Bulldogs (assisted by Cain and Howells) while Jacob McMahon (Steve Williams/George Halverson) replied for Gillons’.
Meanwhile, the Cougars, who had finished fourth in Pool ‘B,’ went up against the Green’s Countrywide Predators (Fort Frances), the third-place team from Pool ‘A’.
Causeway prevailed 7-3 to advance to the ‘B’ final against the Bulldogs.
The West End Bruins (Thunder Bay) won the ‘A’ final with a 4-1 win over the Emo Selects on Sunday afternoon.
Emo had advanced to the final with a convincing 5-2 win over the South End Stars (Thunder Bay) earlier Sunday while the Bruins needed a shoot-out to edge the Fireman’s Association (Fort Frances) 5-4 in the other semi-final.
“I am a little surprised that some teams like Kenora and Dryden didn’t show up,” noted tournament convener Kelly Sigurdson. “We had a hard time getting teams to come and I don’t know why because at the minimum they played four games.”
In fact, the Tom Thumb Rangers–a Novice team–had to be added at the last minute to round out the field to an even 10 teams. And they did quite well, winning their first game 5-1 over the Causeway Cougars.
But the Rangers were eliminated from further contention by losing their next three games although one of those losses was a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to the eventual champion Bruins.
“We are so glad they [Rangers] came out and they did an awesome job,” enthused Sigurdson. “They can skate and they weren’t unhappy that they lost.”