Staff
When they met on the same stage here last month, the outcome was decisive.
This time, it came down to the wire–with the winners needing just a little extra “Patience.”
Anna Johnson’s seemingly impossible pass found its way to Patience Morrison, who deposited the puck into the net with 2:42 left in regulation time to give the Lake of the Woods Thunder a 1-0 win over the Fort Frances Fusion in the final of the Emo-Devlin-Barwick Minor Hockey Association’s PeeWee girls’ tournament Sunday at the Emo-La Vallee Arena.
With time winding down and overtime on the horizon, Johnson rushed into the Fusion zone and drew three defenders to her–all who seemed to arrive in the same spot at the exact same time with Johnson as the centrepiece.
All four bodies crashed to the ice, with Johnson left kneeling in pain, but not before she chipped the puck at the last second to Morrison, who was unguarded at the side of the net and put the puck past Fusion goalie Alexa Yerxa.
The Thunder dominated the Fusion 4-1 in the final of the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association tournament back in February.
But the Fusion showed they were ready to match the physical style of their Kenora opponents.
The Fusion started the tournament with a 6-1 win over the host Emo Express.
Kayleigh Walton, Hill, and Kenny each scored twice while Paiten Kinnear had the lone marker for Emo.
The Fusion then topped the Thunder in a preview of the final by a 3-1 score.
Kenny scored two third-period goals to decide the contest while Walton added a single.
The Kenora Daredevils managed to wrangle a 3-3 tie with the Fusion, although Fort Frances rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit to earn the draw.
Kenny netted another two goals in that one, with Alicia Kress notching the other goal.
Another tight affair saw the Fusion and Fort Frances Lightning skate to a 1-1 tie.
Katarina Malgo scored for the Fusion while Kianna Antonick provided a dramatic ending with her equalizer with just two seconds left in the third.
The Lightning made it two-straight scintillating finishes with a 2-1 overtime victory over the Daredevils in the bronze-medal game.
Piper Cross wasted little time in overtime–roaring into the Kenora zone right from the opening face-off and beating Jamie Morrison just 11 seconds into the extra frame.
Antonick had the other Lightning goal while Isabella Fortes got the win between the pipes.
The triumph avenged a 2-0 loss to the Daredevils in the Lightning’s opening game.
That loss didn’t keep Fort Frances down for long, though, as they rebounded for a 3-1 win over Emo.
Haleigh DeGagne, Jorja Pope, and Shaylynn Marchuk did the damage offensively for the Lightning while Kinnear had her team’s only tally.
The Thunder proved more powerful than the Lightning that ended in a 3-0 shutout for Lake of the Woods.
After losing to the two Fort Frances teams, Emo experienced a third-straight setback with a 7-1 loss to the Daredevils.
Shyanne Woods and Taryn McQuaker assisted on Kianna Adams’ second-period goal for the Express, which then had its winless weekend conclude with a 9-1 loss to the Thunder.
Paige Yerxa set up Raelle Redford for Emo’s lone marker in that game.
