Joey Payeur
A title in the hand was worth three from the Busch.
Jon Busch collected a hat trick to pace the Fort Frances Bantam ‘AA’ Canadians to a 4-2 win over the Norwest Stars (Thunder Bay) in the championship game of the Canadians’ annual home tournament on Sunday at the Ice for Kids Arena.
The crowd had barely settled into their seats when Ian Tookenay and Busch pulled off a perfect 2-on-1 breakaway, with Busch wristing a shot past Stars goalie Cole Jacobson 59 seconds into the game.
Some great forechecking by the line of Eric Pitkanen, Jake Clendenning and James Gushulak led to Clendenning sending a pass from behind the net out front to Gushulak, who one-timed it behind Jacobson at 9:56 for a 2-0 edge.
Fort Frances looked to have made it 3-0 during a power-play, but the goal was waved off due to a Canadians player being in the goal crease, which led to a strenuous protest from Tookenay that resulted in a 10-minute misconduct.
The Canadians didn’t seem fazed by the incident, responding 2:13 into the second when Sully Shortreed made a pinpoint pass across the crease that Busch slammed in behind Jacobson.
Just 1:53 later, Aiden Morrisseau cut right up the middle through the Stars’ defence and slid the puck over to a fast-closing Busch, who deposited the puck in the open side of the net for a power-play goal and a 4-0 lead.
Norwest attempted a comeback in the third with man-advantage goals at 5:32 and 12:55 to slice the lead in half.
But the Canadians held firm the rest of the way, with the final buzzer igniting a rainstorm of gloves and sticks as the team poured off the bench to jubilantly tackle starting goalie Matt Booth.
Fort Frances launched its weekend with a 6-1 dissection of the Southwest Jets from Manitoba.
Clendenning led the way with a goal and two assists, while Daymond Morrisseau and Pitakanen each had a goal and an assist.
Busch, Aiden Morrisseau and Tookenay also scored for the Canadians.
Fort Frances continued its stingy defensive play with a 4-0 blanking of the Dryden Paperkings.
Busch lit the lamp in the first, while Clendenning, Pitkanen and Daymond Morrisseau fired second-period goals in a span of just under five minutes.
The Seine River Snipers were woefully short of ammunition in the Fort’s third game, falling 5-1 to the Canadians.
Aiden Morrisseau led the Fort charge with a goal and two assists, while Pitkanen, Tookenay, Busch and Garrett Woods each had a goal apiece.
The Canadians ended the preliminary round with what turned out to be a preview of the final, as they beat the Stars 3-1 on a pair of markers by Busch and one by Aiden Morrisseau.
In the semifinals, the Canadians scratched out a 3-0 win over the Pembina Valley Twisters.
Shortreed opened the scoring with 5:22 left in the second, then set up goals by Tookenay and Pitkanen 36 seconds apart in the third.
