Staff
Had there been a wedding, Kate Parsons probably would have stopped every grain of rice tossed with her blocker—and snagged the bouquet with her glove hand for good measure.
The goalie was a human wall between the pipes, earning four shutouts in six games, as the local Lakewood Tire Eagles went 5-0-1 to capture the Thunder Bay Chill novice girls’ hockey tournament over the weekend.
Amy Penner scored just 46 seconds into the game in the Eagles’ 2-0 opening win over the Dryden Hurricanes.
Jessica Coran then sealed the deal with an insurance marker with 7:19 left in the third.
Parsons was stellar in net, stopping all shots sent her way as she was named the game’s MVP.
In their second outing against the McDonald Bears (Thunder Bay), Coran bulged the twine 1:02 into the first for the only goal of the Eagles’ 1-0 shutout victory.
The game came right down to the wire, though, with the Eagles’ defence helping Parsons out by clearing the puck when called upon.
Kendall Bruyere earned game MVP honours for Fort Frances.
An 8 a.m start time on Saturday led to a case of lead feet for the Eagles in the early going.
But they managed to shake out of their doldrums to leave the first period tied 2-2 against the McDonald Magic (Thunder Bay), with Penner scoring both Fort Frances goals.
Coran then took over, scoring the eventual game-winner with 4:23 left in the second and then the insurance marker with 3:38 to play to close out a 4-2 victory.
She nabbed game MVP honours in the process.
A 1-1 tie against the Petrie’s Stars (Thunder Bay) in the Eagles’ fourth game was a case of Fort Frances throwing everything it had at the Stars, only to be stonewalled by Petrie’s goalie Meagan Jung.
Coran scored with 3:43 left in the first, but that would be the only mistake Jung made the rest of the way—even though it seemed like the entire contest was played in the Stars’ end of the ice.
But with numerous chances going in vain for the Eagles, Petrie’s Mikayla Thompson slipped a shot past Parsons with 4.7 seconds left in the second to earn the draw.
Penner was named game MVP for the Eagles.
A 3-0-1 mark left the Eagles in first place in Pool ‘A’ and put them into a semi-final showdown against the McDonald Sharks (Thunder Bay), who had finished second in Pool ‘B.’
The Eagles exploded out of the blocks as Rachel Jean’s tally 33 seconds into the game and Penner’s follow-up marker at 2:48 shot Fort Frances into a 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless second period, Penner went to work late in the third.
First, Coran set her up with 3:28 left before Jean (the game MVP with two assists) fed Penner a pass to complete her hat trick 35 seconds later to secure the 4-0 victory.
The victory meant a rematch with the Bears, who had upset the Thunder Bay Sabres (the top squad from Pool ‘B’) in the semi-finals.
Putting the aches and injures stemming from their sixth game in three days behind them, the Eagles played like a team on a mission en route to a 5-0 pasting of the Bears and the tourney title.
Carly Taggart lit the lamp 1:20 into the first, followed 33 seconds later by Penner’s tally.
A tic-tac-toe play involving Coran and Taggart set up Maddie Weir with 5:51 left in the opening stanza to make it 3-0 for Fort Frances.
After a scoreless second, Jean and Penner set up Emily Bird with 2:55 left.
Then 49 seconds later, Jean put the icing on the cake with her goal, set up by Bird, who was selected as the game MVP.
