Staff
Tim Hortons may be raising its prices but the Fort Frances Tim Hortons novice girls’ hockey team keeps raising its game.
Piper Miller scored twice while game MVP Addison Chown added one as Fort Frances beat the Kenora Vipers 3-1 on Sunday in the gold-medal game of the 20th-annual Larry Bowen Memorial tournament in Kenora.
That makes it two titles in a row for the local squad after it captured the Thunder Bay Chill tournament two weeks earlier.
Fort Frances came out of the gate on fire in their opening game—a 10-4 rout of the Kenora Ninjas.
Miller lit the lamp four times while game MVP Kiera Fairnington had a hat trick.
Marlee Bliss added a pair of markers, with Blaire Cross rounding out the scoring.
Fort Frances then whitewashed the Kenora Ice Warriors by a 7-0 margin.
Miller led the way with five goals, to go along with singles by game MVP Shayna Shute and Marlee Bliss.
Madison Bliss, meanwhile, was unbeatable in goal.
In their next game, Tim Hortons put the bite on the Kenora Vipers 6-1, with Miller supplying a hat trick.
Marlee Bliss added two goals while Cross scored once in being named game MVP.
Then in an all-Rainy River District battle, Fort Frances blanked the Emo Express 8-0.
Miller netted four goals in that one while Fairnington notched a pair.
Game MVP Davilyn Miller and Shute each lit the lamp once to complement the shutout effort by Madison Bliss.
The local area also was represented in the PeeWee division at the tournament by Fort Frances BDO Canada Stars and the Emo Express, along with the Fort Frances Legal Eagles and the Express in the Atom division.
The Stars made it to the bronze-medal game but were blanked 7-0 by the Kenora Surge.
BDO showed plenty of hard work throughout the weekend despite not earning a win.
Fort Frances lost 6-2 in its opener against the Kenora Mean Machines before falling 5-3 to the Kenora Black Eyed Potatoes.
The Stars then were downed 7-0 by the eventual champion Kenora North East Eagles before a 6-0 shutout loss to the Mean Machines.
Goal scorers for BDO, as well as scores and goal scorers for the Express, were unavailable at press time.
As for the Atoms, the Legal Eagles were victorious in the seventh-place game—a heart-stopping 2-1 overtime victory over Stonewall.
There was no scoring until the third period, when Savannah McGinnis set up Kianna Antonick to put Fort Frances up 1-0 with 6:23 left to play.
Stonewall tied it only 1:06 later on an unassisted effort by Avery Godin to force the extra session.
Then with 2:55 left in overtime, McGinnis wristed a bullet for the game-winner for BDO, who got outstanding netminding work from Isabella Fortes in the win.
Fort Frances had opened the tourney with an 8-2 loss to the Kenora AtoMcPurple Plague.
McGinnis had both goals.
The Legal Eagles then dropped a close 2-1 decision to the Kenora AtoMc Crush, with McGinnis providing the lone goal.
Then they were beaten 7-0 by the Kenora AtoMc Surge in their final preliminary round game.
Scores and goal scorers for the Express were unavailable at press time.
As for action this past week in the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association, the Fort Frances Bantam ‘AA’ Leafs pounded the Baudette JV Bears 7-1 on Saturday.
Maighyn DeGagne bagged a hat trick while Victoria Sheppard netted a pair of goals.
Kelsey Langtry and Madison Morrison added a goal apiece.
Meanwhile, the Fort PeeWee BDO Canada Stars took care of the Emo Express in a 3-2 victory Nov. 25.
Marti Woods tallied twice for the Stars while Kassidy MacDonald had the other goal.
Star Martin and Teagan Friesen replied for the Express.
