Staff
Kermit the Frog once sang “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” But a group of PeeWee pucksters showed this past weekend it’s pretty sweet being Green’s.
Matt Cheetham netted the lone goal of the shootout to give Green’s a 4-3 win Sunday over the Current River Ice Comets (Thunder Bay) in the ‘B’ final of a PeeWee ‘A’ hockey tournament here.
Green’s, one of four Fort Frances teams in the tournament, grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Ben Whitburn and Cheetham, but the Ice Comets responded with two goals in 2:15 before intermission to square the affair.
Current River nabbed its first lead of the day early in the second, but Sam Tibbs tied it up for Green’s with only one tick left in the frame.
After a scoreless third, the two teams traded scoring chances in the five-minute overtime with no luck.
That led to the sudden-death shootout, with Cheetham working his magic and Green’s goalie Alex Adrian stopping Current River’s lone shootout candidate to put the local side over the top.
Green’s lost 4-2 to the eventual ‘A’-side champion Current River Comets (not the same team) in their opening game of the tournament.
Jacob Bolzan and Whitburn scored for Green’s, who tied the game with 1:41 to play but then gave up two goals in the final minute to fall short against the Comets, who downed the Rugged Air Flyers 6-4 in the ‘A’ final on Sunday.
Green’s rebounded in their second game with a 2-0 shutout over Westfort (Thunder Bay). Whitburn had both goals while Adrian earned the shutout.
Rugged Air then got the better of Green’s in a 2-0 victory, putting the local squad into the ‘B’ semi-finals against the Fort Frances Firemen.
The Firemen had no answer for the offensive blaze set by Green’s, who rolled to a 7-1 win.
Cheetham led the way with a hat trick while Tibbs, Whitburn, Kevin Metke, and Matthew Berube also scored for the winners.
Cameron Turriff had the only goal for the Firemen, who had opened the tourney Friday with a 4-3 victory over the Emo Thunderbolts.
Turriff had a pair of goals in that one, with Carson Cole and Austin Angus netting.
Robin Vien had a hat trick in a losing cause for the Thunderbolts.
The Firemen then were edged 5-4 in their second game by Rugged Air. Turriff again tallied twice while Cole and Angus also lit the lamp.
The Thunder Bay Shooting Stars also proved to be a handful for the Firemen in their third game, coming out on top of a 7-3 score.
Angus struck twice for Fort Frances, with Thomas Onichuk netting their other goal.
Meanwhile, the Fort Frances Lions began their tourney action with a 7-0 whitewashing of the Emo Fury.
Brendan Johnson and A.J. Revus each scored twice while Josh Kraynyk, Tyson-Skylar Morrisseau, and Damon Smith had a goal apiece.
Tyson Pitkanen earned the shutout.
The Lions kept their offensive motors running in their next game—a 6-0 whitewash of the Ice Comets.
Revus scorched the Ice Comets for a hat trick while Kraynyk, Johnson, and Kaitlyn Baldwin pitched in with a goal each to support Pitkanen’s second-straight shutout.
The Lions went three-for-three after knocking off Westfort 4-1, with Johnson scoring all four of the goals.
That put the squad into the ‘A’ semi-finals against the Current River Comets, who scored twice in the first and the third to fortify a 4-2 victory and eliminate the Lions from further contention.
Revus and Smith tallied for the locals.
The Oddfellows, the fourth Fort Frances team in the tourney, played terrific in a 6-2 thumping of the Dryden Avalanche in their opener.
Dane Blais had a hat trick, Kobe Gardiman scored twice, and Jacob Herbert snared the other for the Oddfellows, with Lane Mann posting the victory in goal.
More success followed in the Oddfellows’ second contest—another 6-2 decision this time against the Emo Fury.
Herbert and Jordan Taggart each collected a pair of goals while Ian Jodoin and Thomas Little rounded out the scoring for the Oddfellows.
Kaily Greengrass netted both markers for the Fury.
But the Oddfellows then were victimized by the eventual champs as the Comets doubled the locals 4-2, with Blais tallying both goals.
That meant a trip to the ‘B’ semi-finals against the Ice Comets, who fell behind the Oddfellows 4-2 midway through the third.
But the visitors scored with 5:48 left, and again with 31 seconds to go, to send the game to overtime, where Lane Zale completed a natural hat trick with 48 seconds remaining in the extra frame to give the Ice Comets the narrow 5-4 win.
Taggart, Blais, Little, and Gardiman scored in a losing cause.
As for the Emo teams, the Thunderbolts followed their opening loss to the Firemen with a 6-0 loss to the Shooting Stars.
Emo found their offensive chemistry in their next game against the Dryden Avalanche, but couldn’t stop the Avalanche offence in a 7-5 defeat.
Terell Hyatt and Brandon Pelepetz each scored twice for the Thunderbolts while Vien added a single.
Emo ended its preliminary round on an up note, however, pulling out a 2-1 shootout victory over Westfort.
Hunter Adams scored in regulation time for the Thunderbolts while Vien made good on his chance for the game-winner in the shootout.
That put the Thunderbolts in the ‘C’ final, but fell 5-3 to the Avalanche in a rematch.
Vien notched a pair in that one, with Hyatt notching their other goal.
After losing to the Lions and the Oddfellows, the Emo Fury were blanked 8-0 by the Ice Comets and then wrapped up their tourney with a 4-2 loss to Dryden.
Kaily Greengrass and Tyler Hamm provided the offence in their final game.
