Fort pucksters fourth in Baudette

A long memory by one team made for a forgettable conclusion for the other.
Jessica Hiipakka tallied twice as Grand Rapids, Mn. exploded for three goals in the first period en route to a 5-1 win over Fort Frances to decide third place at a 15-and-under girls’ hockey invitational tournament in Baudette on Jan. 10-12.
Fort Frances had pulled out a 4-3 victory over Grand Rapids that was decided on a shootout during the round-robin portion of the tourney. But the Minnesota squad left no doubt to their superiority in the bronze-medal game.
Kayla Clafton, Elizabeth Bellefy, and Breanna Gallop also scored for Grand Rapids while Carly Holt was the lone marksman for Fort Frances.
In their round-robin game against Grand Rapids, the local crew had surrendered a 3-1 lead in the third period, allowing two goals in the final three minutes of regulation time.
A five-minute overtime solved nothing before Holt, the second Fort Frances player to try her hand in the shootout, beat Grand Rapids goalie Kara Castle for her team’s only goal of the climactic one-on-one showdown.
Goalie Katelyn Stearns did the rest, turning aside all five Grand Rapids shooters to give her team the win in the white-knuckle affair.
Shannon Koval—playing as an over-age invitee of her team—had a pair of goals and one assist for Fort Frances in that game while Nina Bird added a single.
Jill Dewey, Maggie Rothstein, and Gallop replied for Grand Rapids.
Special teams played a huge role in Fort Frances’ 4-3 loss to Roseau in their next outing.
A short-handed goal and a power-play one by Roseau on either side of Koval’s unassisted tally gave the American squad a 2-1 lead after the first period.
Alyssa Kaemingh tied the game for Fort Frances at 3:34 of the second, but Roseau connected again before the end of the middle frame to make it 3-2 heading to the third.
Another power-play goal made it 4-2, before Koval earned her third point of the game by setting up Kristen Boyer’s power-play goal for Fort Frances with 3:14 to play.
But that was as close as they could get.
The host team from Lake of the Woods fell behind early before scoring five-straight goals en route to an 8-4 win over Fort Frances in the closing game of the round-robin.
Koval had put Fort Frances ahead at 5:44 of the first on a pass from Bird, before Natalie Ramiller tied it 45 seconds later for Baudette.
The Lake of the Woods tandem of Courtney Bitter and Amy Hasbargen then took turns causing trouble for their Canadian visitors, each scoring a pair to make it 5-1 late in the second.
Holt fed Koval for her second with 1:19 left in the frame to give Fort Frances new life entering the dressing room. But that momentum was quickly shelved when Deanna Baron scored 57 seconds into the third for Baudette to regain the four-goal lead.
Fort Frances’ Kyleigh Ossachuk sandwiched unassisted goals around a Sam Reinert tally for Lake of the Woods to make it 7-4, before Danielle Rudd capped the scoring for Baudette with 16.7 seconds left.
The Fort Frances squad next sees action at a tournament in Dryden on Jan. 31-Feb. 2.