Staff
The Lake of the Woods Thunder had a little bit of lightning in their game.
Two goals just 46 seconds apart broke open a scoreless tie in the second period and sent the Thunder on their way to a 5-1 win over the Fort Frances Fusion on Sunday in the final of the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association’s PeeWee tournament.
While on the power play, Thunder forward Chalise Kenny shook free Fusion defender Harper Amdahl in front of the net to barely slide the puck past goalie Alexa Yerxa at 4:04 of the second.
Then thanks to a turnover by the Fusion in their own zone, Seanna Derouard came off the right-wing boards and wired a shot past Yerxa at 4:50 to make it 2-0.
Abbie Kenny put the home squad on the board at 9:46 when she split two defenders in the neutral zone and powered her way free for a clear breakaway, which she finished with a superb wrist shot to the stick side of Thunder goalie Abigail Waterson-Alcock.
The Thunder restored their two-goal lead at 3:40 of the third.
Kadence Morrison took a short pass in the neutral zone and, with both Fusion blueliners pinching up, took two strides and was home free before deking to the forehand to beat Yerxa five-hole.
The Fusion pulled Yerxa with 2:40 to go and gave up an empty-netter to Elizabeth Favreau 27 seconds later.
Then they tried the strategy again–only to have Shai VanWalleghem drill a point shot into the open cage with 1:08 left to round out the scoring.
Fort Frances had to rally from a 2-1 third-period deficit to beat the Emo Express 5-2 in their opening game.
Kenny had a hat trick and added an assist, with Kayleigh Walton and Ellayna Kabel also getting a goal apiece.
Hailey Bombay and Paiten Kinnear tallied for the Express.
Yerxa then was unbeatable in a 4-0 shutout of the Kenora Polar Bears.
Kenny made it back-to-back hat tricks while Kabel tacked on a single.
The Fusion then lost its only game in pool play by falling 3-1 to the Lake of the Woods Daredevils as Kenny had the lone marker.
In what arguably was the game of the tournament for pure thrills, Fort Frances gave up a first-period marker to Maya Kubera to trail the Lake of the Woods Warriors 1-0 throughout most of the semi-final.
Kabel, who hit the post in the second period, wheeled around in the slot and blew a shot past Warriors’ goalie Calysta Olson with 8:38 left in regulation to finally put the Fusion on even terms.
Olson shut down Walton on a penalty shot with 3:01 left after Kabel was hauled down on a breakaway, but was slightly injured after crashing into the post and couldn’t take the shot.
With nothing doing in overtime, the teams went to a shootout.
In storybook fashion, Walton got her redemption by zooming a quick shot past Olson’s glove in the second round while Yerxa stood tall against all three Warriors’ shooters to give the Fusion a 2-1 win.
The Fort Frances Lightning suffered a power outage on offence during the weekend–mustering only one goal in four games while going winless.
After three-straight shutouts at the hands of Dryden Petro-Canada (1-0), the Thunder Bay Petrie’s Stars (3-0), and the eventual champion Thunder (1-0), the Lightning finally got on the board when Kianna Antonick’s goal in the first period put them up 1-0 on the Warriors.
But Lake of the Woods tied it in the second, then got the game-winner from Kubera against Lightning goalie Isabella Fortes with just 42 seconds left.
The Express also lost 2-0 to the Daredevils and then 2-1 to the Polar Bears, with Taryn McQuaker getting Emo’s goal.
The result from Emo’s appearance in the seventh-place game was unavailable at press time.
