Joey Payeur
Skai McLean unleashed the bullet, then celebrated Teemu Selanne-style by machine-gunning the air with his hockey stick.
He might as well have been shooting down the medal hopes of the Fort Frances Bantam ‘AA’ Canadians.
McLean’s rocket blast off the post and into the net 1:25 into the third period gave him his second goal of the game and his team a three-goal cushion as the Assiniboine Park Rangers (Winnipeg) went on to a 4-2 win over Fort Frances in the bronze-medal game of the Canadians’ 49th-annual home tournament Sunday at the Ice For Kids Arena.
The two teams had played to a wild 7-7 tie earlier in the weekend, which was enough to give the Rangers (3-0-1) top spot in Pool ‘A’ ahead of the Canadians (2-0-2).
But both squads were relegated to the bronze-medal game after losing their respective semi-finals.
The Sioux Lookout Flyers edged the Canadians 2-1 in a shootout while the Rangers fell to the eventual tournament champion Kenora Thistles, who beat Sioux Lookout 6-1 in the final.
Rangers’ goalie Evan Baty came up big in the first period of the bronze-medal game with a breakaway save on Chase McGuire, followed by two more stops in the scramble that ensued.
Then with Colton Bodnar in the sin bin for interference, McLean tucked home a rebound of Shea Gorenstein’s original shot off the post behind Canadians’ goalie Matthew Booth at 9:56 for a 1-0 lead.
McGuire provided a man-advantage marker of his own to tie the game at the 12-minute mark.
After Baty stopped a wraparound attempt, the Rangers failed to clear the zone. Michael Drouin played the puck to Noah Loveday, whose sliding shot along the ice was redirected in by McGuire.
But with Ian Tookenay serving another interference minor, the Rangers clicked again on the power play when Max McLean stuffed home the rebound of Matt Lawrence’s shot from the left face-off circle with 15 seconds left in the frame for a 2-1 lead.
Booth made a five-star save on Skai McLean from point-blank range nearly nine minutes into the second to keep it a one-goal game.
But Mitch Justl’s high floater from the point somehow found its way over Booth’s shoulder and into the cage at 12:15 of the stanza to make it 3-1.
Then after McLean notched his second of the game, the Canadians had trouble generating much in the way of scoring chances until late in the third.
That’s when Brett Hahkala’s lead pass sprung Tookenay on a breakaway, who sent a quick shot beyond the outstretched blocker of Baty with 1:22 to go to trim the lead to two.
The Canadians immediately called a time-out and pulled Booth for the extra attacker.
But the plan yielded no gains—and ultimately was nullified when Hunter Koles, who led the hosts with nine goals during the tournament, was penalized for charging with 29 seconds left to leave the teams with five skaters aside.
Facing the Flyers, who had won Pool ‘B’ with a 4-0 record, the Canadians fell behind when Raine Elliott scored with 47 seconds left in the first.
Loveday put the Fort on even ground at 11:26 of the second on a set-up from Izzy Smith and Jon Busch.
A scoreless third and overtime led to the shootout.
While both shooters managed to beat Booth on their chances, Hahkala and Koles were stymied by the Flyers’ goalie to give Sioux Lookout the win.
The Canadians had opened the tournament Friday afternoon with a 5-0 shutout over the Springfield Hawks (Winnipeg), scoring four times in the third period.
Koles and Hahkala each had a pair of goals and three assists while Jake Clendenning added the other marker.
Fort Frances then pounded the Dryden Paperkings 7-1 that night—building a 7-0 lead before Hunter Buzzi spoiled the shutout bid late in the third.
Koles had two goals and two assists to lead the Canadians in that one while Bodnar also tallied twice.
Busch, Hahkala and Loveday added singles.
The home side then looked to have its third-straight win sewn up Saturday morning when Hahkala scored with 1:46 left in the third to put the Canadians up 3-2 on the Neebing Hawks (Winnipeg).
But with their goalie on the bench, Drew Safronuk netted the equalizer with just 26 seconds left to salvage a 3-3 tie.
Koles and Loveday had the other markers for Fort Frances.
In the shootout with the Rangers later Saturday, the Canadians trailed 6-4 after two periods but fought back to lead 7-6 before once again allowing another late tying goal—this time with 2:23 left.
Koles racked up four goals in that one while Loveday and Tookenay had singles (the seventh goal scorer was unavailable by press time).
