Ash, Gunsolus are Thunder Bay’s ‘Queens’

As Heather Ash and Melissa Gunsolus prepare for a women’s exhibition hockey series in Blaine, Mn. next month, it could very well be the most important games of their young careers.
Ash (goalie) and Gunsolus (forward) are Fort Frances players who starred for the Thunder Bay Midget ‘AA’ Queens this past season. And they’ll have a chance to take their game to the next level when they compete against seven top-level clubs from the States.
The Queens will face one of the two U.S. national development programs as well as other top amateur teams in Minnesota. Another squad will make the trip from Boston.
And the stands will be packed with U.S. college scouts, looking to find that diamond–or Queen–in the rough.
“It’s a great opportunity for a lot of the older girls if the scouts like what they see,” said Queens’ head coach Jason Prior. “We’ve been down to the States a few times so they have a good knowledge of what we have.”
“There will be lots of exposure from U.S. college and university scouts, and I’m hoping for a scholarship for next year,” said Gunsolus. “But I think our team has a very good chance of doing well.”
Both players should have no trouble handling the pressure of playing in front of scouts. And Prior is confident the pair will do well in the Twin Cities.
Ash, 18, and Gunsolus, 17, are used to playing in pressure-filled games after helping lead the Queens to their first-ever women’s provincial hockey crown earlier this month in Mississuaga.
Before this season’s fairy-tale finish, Thunder Bay had yet to win a game at the provincials–never mind the Ontario championship. “I’d been dreaming of winning a provincial [championship] since I started playing,” said Gunsolus.
They nailed down the title with a dramatic 2-1 double-overtime victory over Ottawa despite the fact they were outshot 27-12 during regulation time.
The win capped a sensational tournament for the local pair. Gunsolus, a native of Peterborough who moved here a year ago, had four goals and six assists at the provincials.
Meanwhile, Ash played every minute of all five games (their other goalie was hurt), compiling a 3-1-1 record and surrendering just 10 goals altogether.
“Melissa is very good with the puck down low and you can’t get the puck off her. She’s like an in-your-face player,” said Prior. “[And] Heather played absolutely great.
“In the finals, she stole the show. She was the reason why we got to the overtime,” he stressed.
The Queens opened play with a narrow 2-1 loss to Burlington but then reeled off wins over Brampton (7-5) and Hamilton (4-0) to finish atop Pool ‘A.’ They then advanced to the championship game with a 3-1 win over Cornwall in the semi-finals.
“It was really awesome,” said Ash, in her second season with the Queens. “It’s probably the best thing that ever happened to me. That game [against Brampton] was a crazy game, it was like a shootout.”
But the Ontario title didn’t happen by accident. In fact, the team set out the goal of winning the provincials way back at the start of the season.
“When we were setting our goals, our [top] one was to win the provincials, or at least place in the medals,” said Ash.
And they did it with defence and great goaltending–which Ash provided throughout the season.
“We don’t score many goals but we have a few good defencemen,” she noted. “We’re sort of a defensive team.”
“We’ve concentrated quite a bit in our defensive zone,” agreed Prior. “It’s amazing how everything peaked at the right time and everything fell into place.”