Staff
The Rolling Lake Lightning nearly made the most of their closest out-of-town tournament of the year.
Over the weekend, the local Atom girls’ hockey team struck for the ‘B’-side championship in the International Falls U10 tournament.
Their first game was against a very powerful McDonald’s Fury squad, a competitive team out of Thunder Bay. The fast-paced game was exciting as it was scoreless through the first two periods.
The Lightning hit the scoreboard first when Lauren Hamilton hammered the puck home on a breakaway.
Two minutes later, after almost 20 shots on goal, the Fury finally put the puck in the net to tie the score at 1-1.
Another quick goal put the Thunder Bay squad in the lead. Tthe Lightning weren’t shaken as they skated hard and had a few scoring chances, but couldn’t find the net.
The Fury added an insurance marker with three minutes to go. And it proved to be the difference as Shannon Bird scored to close the gap to 3-2, but that was as close as the Lightning could get.
Marissa Loveday once again played stellar in net, making stunning saves using her blocker and catching many shots with her glove.
The Lightning then faced the Pequot Lakes Eagles as Hamilton was on fire, scoring a hat trick that included a short-handed goal.
Annalise Hayes scored twice, with Bird and Hannah LeDrew each notching a goal en route to a 7-2 victory.
The Lightning were bolstered by the strong defensive play of Abby Plourde, Katelin Gurniak, Macey Weir, and Madison Botsford.
With their 1-1 record, the Lightning were matched up against the Detroit Lakes Lakers for the ‘B’-side crown.
In the first period, Jenna Clendenning made a sleek pass on the far blueline to Hamilton, who went one-on-one with a Laker defender, slid past her, and went in on the right side of the goalie.
She shot the puck into the bottom corner of the net to put the Lightning up 1-0.
The next line of Bird, Kelsey Langtry, and LeDrew then fought hard to bring the puck back into the Lakers’ zone. And their determination paid off as Bird fired the puck past the goalie to make it 2-0.
With the Lightning dominating play, Hayes took the puck in the neutral zone and deked past two Laker’s defenders to go in on the goalie, shooting the puck into the twine.
Before the end of the first, Plourde rushed from one end of the ice to the other, going through all five Lakers to fire the puck past their goalie to give the Lightning their fourth goal.
Hamilton deked through two Lakers’ defenders in the second for her second goal of the game.
Jocelyn George provided a defensive highlight, quashing a Lakers’ breakaway attempt.
Up 5-1 in the third, a pass from Kassidy Fryer sent Hayes in on a breakaway, who went top shelf for her second goal of the game.
Bryanna Dustin’s persistence then paid off as she pumped the puck into the net to ice the 7-2 victory.
The McDonald’s Fury ended up winning the tournament in overtime against the host Falls U10 squad. As well, there was a shootout competition for all teams.
Marissa Loveday, the Lightnings’ sharp-eyed goalie, kept her eye on the puck as not one passed her during the entire competition.
The Lightning will host their home tourney on the weekend of Feb. 12.
