Lucas Punkari
It took a shootout but in the end, the Fort Frances Lakewood Tire Eagles PeeWee girls’ team skated away with the Kathy Sanders Memorial Tournament title in Dryden on Sunday.
Trailing the Thunder Bay McDonald Magic 1-0 late in the third period, Rachel Jean scored in the dying stages of regulation time to force overtime.
After the extra session solved nothing, both teams prepared for a five-round shootout where the Magic were unable to solve goalie Marissa Loveday.
Meanwhile, Samantha McKinnon and Sydney Johnson each lit the lamp to give the Eagles a 2-1 victory and their second championship banner in as many months.
“Once we finished up the fourth round of the shootout, the officials basically ended it right there because there was no way that they were going to come back,” explained Eagles’ coach Dan Jean, whose team captured the Emo “Fire on Ice” tournament back in December.
The Eagles finished the round-robin in first place with a 3-0-1 record, which gave them a bye to Sunday’s final.
But they needed some late-game heroics in their final round-robin game to finish in the top spot, with Jean netting the tying goal against the Dryden PT Cruisers on Saturday night.
The Fort Frances Super 8 squad also took part in the tournament, where they finished in sixth place overall after a 2-0 shutout over the Thunder Bay OPG Tigers.
Rylee Redford and Myla Angus both scored for Super 8 as the team finished up the tournament with a 2-2-1 mark.
As a show of appreciation to their sponsor, the Eagles will present their championship banners from the Dryden and Emo tournaments to Lakewood Tire tonight at the ’52 Canadians Arena prior to their regularly-scheduled 7 p.m. game.
