Staff
Paiten Kinnear decided it was time for her to get behind the wheel of the Emo Express and guide it to Victory Station.
The defenceman netted a hat trick to snap a 2-2 tie and launch the Express to a 7-2 win over the Fort Frances Calder Legal Eagles in Sunday’s Atom ‘B’ final of a tournament hosted by the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association.
Kinnear put her team in front with 5.6 seconds to go in the second—charging to the net to collect a rebound of her initial shot and pounding the puck past Eagles’ goalie Isabella Fortes.
The momentum of that marker extended into the early stages of the third, when Kinnear fired a long shot from just inside the Fort blueline that deflected off Fortes and in at the 53-second mark to make it 4-2.
Kinnear then completed her outburst at 8:52 with almost a carbon copy of her second goal, except this time her point shot whizzed low into the bottom right corner of the net.
Ashlyn Beck notched her second of the game at 10:50 by jamming in a rebound before Teagan Friesen completed the scoring with 59 seconds left, flipping the puck high into the net just before falling to the ice.
Emo goalie Naomi Dunn went mostly untested in the second half of the game as the Express controlled the play, but came up with the big saves when needed to earn the win.
The Eagles opened the scoring at 1:14 of the first when Dunn stopped Samantha Kelly on a breakaway—only to have the rebound put past her on a goal credited to Marti Woods (although it appeared Rebecca Jourdain was the last Eagle to touch the puck before it went in).
Emo tied it at 7:37 when Beck showed some pool shark savvy while standing behind the net, banking the puck off a skate in front and in.
Janelle Allan then showed gritty determination to give the Express the lead at 13:08.
Allan had her first shot stopped but hung tough in the slot and waited for a feed from Friesen behind the net, then whistled the puck to the far corner past a diving Fortes.
Jourdain evened the game 1:40 into the second, shovelling the puck past Dunn, who thought she had it covered.
The victory was the second of the tournament for the Express over the Eagles. Emo downed Fort Frances 5-2 in their round-robin meeting to open the tournament.
Beck and Friesen each scored twice in that one, with Kinnear adding a goal and an assist.
Woods and Abby Roach scored for the Eagles, with Woods and Savannah McGinnis notching assists.
The Express offence then ran dry as Emo lost 7-0 to the Lake of the Woods Atom Bombs.
Emo regained its goal-scoring touch in their third game but still fell 5-3 to the Lake of the Woods Silver Bullets.
Beck led the way with a pair of goals while Friesen added the other one.
Then in the semi-finals, the Silver Bullets again displayed their dominance—downing the Express 5-1, with Beck getting the lone goal.
After their initial loss to the Express, the Eagles were blanked 6-0 by the Silver Bullets and 9-0 by the Atom Bombs.
Then they dropped a 7-2 decision to the Atom Bombs in the semi-finals.
Woods and Jourdain had the Eagles’ goals in that one.
The Silver Bullets blanked the Atom Bombs 2-0 to take the Atom ‘A’ crown.
