Staff
The Rolling Lake Lightning zapped their way to a tournament title in Hibbing, Mn. over the weekend, relegating their hosts to second place.
The action began Friday night with a 2-1 win over the Mora Mustangs.
After a scoreless opening period, the Mustangs drew first blood with a power-play goal in the second.
Not to be outdone, Lightning winger Lauren Hamilton tied the game at 1-1 just 28 seconds later.
Then with just under four minutes to go in the third, Annalise Hayes notched the game-winner to give the Lightning the narrow victory.
The Lightning hit the ice again Saturday morning and skated away with a solid 6-0 win over the 10U girls’ team from Grand Rapids.
After Kelsey Langtry scored unassisted in the middle of the first period, Katelyn Gurniak passed the puck to Hayes, who hit the twine just 39 seconds into the second.
Bryanna Dustin then fought hard to get the puck to Hamilton, who scored to put the Lighting up 3-0 later in the period.
The Lightning then sealed the deal with three unanswered goals in the third, starting with Hayes notching her second goal of the game at 7:07.
Hayes then connected with Jocelyn George, who made a sleek pass to Kassidy Fryer, who finished the three-way play by sliding the puck into the net for the Lightning’s fifth goal.
Abby Plourde rounded out the scoring late in the game when she rushed the puck end-to-end before beating the Grand Rapids goalie with a blazing wrist shot.
Marissa Loveday earned the shutout in goal.
Having already secured a berth in championship final thanks to their two wins and an extra point for the shutout, the Lightning’s third game came Saturday evening against a speedy squad from Hibbing.
Hayes opened the scoring when she went in on a breakaway to score top shelf to give the Lighting the lead midway through the first.
It wasn’t until three minutes were left in the second that Hibbing was able to tie the game.
A scary incident occurred with just two minutes left in the game when a Hibbing player fell on Loveday. Her finger was dislocated and she had to leave the ice to go to the hospital.
Lightning defender Katelyn Gurniak stepped up to patrol the crease with no pads or gloves, facing a barrage of shots. But Hibbing eventually scored the game-winning goal with just 13 seconds to go.
The Lightning then played the same Hibbing team in the final on Sunday.
Fort Frances struck quickly as Hayes deked her way through two Hibbing defenders to go in one-on-one with the goalie. Veering to the left of the goalie, Hayes snapped a shot to put the puck top shelf over the goalie’s shoulder.
On her next shift, Hayes won the draw and fought her way through three Hibbing players, deking to the left, then the right, back to the left, and then going top shelf again to score the eventual game-winning goal.
The play of defenders Gurniak, Botsford, Macey Weir, and Plourde was excellent. At one point in the game, Hibbing was coming in on Loveday fast with Weir doing a commendable job defending her zone, diving to keep the shot from reaching Loveday.
Hibbing was relentless as they fought hard and took shots, but couldn’t solve Loveday until three minutes remained.
Hibbing tightened the game up with a power-play goal to cut the score to 2-1, but clawed no closer as the Lightning grasped the trophy.
Lightning parents also were able to get in on the hockey action over the weekend as “Pistol” Patti Jo LeDrew, mother of Hannah LeDrew, participated in the parent shootout during the championship game.
She sized up her shot and scored from centre ice.
