Staff
Local teams didn’t come away empty-handed in the girls’ Bantam/Midget home tournament held over the weekend.
The BDO Stars and Pharmasave Wildcats each captured the bronze medals in Bantam and Midget divisions, respectively.
The Stars edged the Dryden Sport-top Shooters 1-0 in their third-place game on Sunday while the Wildcats slipped past the Thunder Bay Sabres by an identical 1-0 score to snag a bronze medal of their own.
The Kenora Avalanche captured top spot in the Bantam division, blanking Dryden PetroPass 5-0 in the final, while the Dryden Eliminators took home the Midget crown after sidelining the Dryden Timeout Bruins by a 3-1 score.
The Wildcats had opened action Friday morning with a 2-2 tie against the Dryden Eliminators.
Paige Ward and Amber Jourdain tallied first-period goals for the Wildcats but the Eliminators struck back with a pair in the third.
Katrina Wreggitt, who drew an assist on Jourdain’s goal, earned the game MVP award.
The Wildcats then kept their undefeated record intact by blanking the Thunder Bay Hurricanes 2-0.
Wreggitt scored both goals—the first at 8:34 of the second period and then with 35 seconds left in the game.
Jourdain assisted on both tallies and earned the game MVP honour.
Pharmasave fought to another tie in its third game, this time battling to a 3-3 tie with the Thunder Bay Sabres.
The Sabres jumped ahead 3-0 on a first-period goal and two more in the second. But the Wildcats rallied in the third.
Jourdain started the comeback at 11:11 before Tressa Galusha struck just a minute later to help the Wildcats crawl to within 3-2.
Ward completed the comeback at 8:56, and also snag the game MVP nod.
The Wildcats fell in their final preliminary game, however, losing a 2-1 heartbreaker to Dryden Timeout.
Halle Lobreau opened the scoring for Dryden at 4:03 of the second, but Kimmy Holt knotted things at 11:13 of the third.
But Dryden netted the game-winner with just 3:21 to go.
Chantal Jodoin, who had an assist, took home game MVP honours.
In the playoff round, the Wildcats lost another 2-1 game, this time to the Dryden Eliminators.
Kyley Engstrom kicked thing off for the Eliminators in the second but Ward evened the game in the third.
The Wildcats then found themselves down a player heading into four-on-four session and Engstrom struck again at 4:42 of the extra period.
Tressa Galusha was named game MVP.
The defeat meant a rematch between Pharmasave and the Sabres in the third-place game, with the Wildcats emerging 1-0 in overtime.
Neither team was able to score in regulation time, and the Wildcats again were shorthanded at the end of the third.
But the home team killed off the penalty, then Nicole Beadle tallied at 4:04 of the extra frame to give the Wildcats the bronze and earning herself the MVP honours.
Bantam action
On the Bantam side, meanwhile, the Stars’ run began the same way it ended—with a shutout of Sport-top (although by a 3-0 tally in their first game Friday morning).
The Stars remained undefeated after battling the Kenora White Light to a 2-2 draw that afternoon.
The Stars then completed preliminary round action with another 2-2 tie, this time against the Thunder Bay Herricanes.
In the first game of the playoff round, the Stars knew all the Thunder Bay Magic’s secrets, blanking them 4-0.
But the Stars’ championship hopes were snowed in Sunday morning as the Kenora Avalanche prevailed 6-1, setting up the locals’ 1-0 win over Dryden later in the day.
Individual goal scorers were not provided.
Each division had a second local team in the tournament, with both the Energy Fitness Wild and Doug Kitowski Trucking icing squads.
In Bantam action, the Energy Fitness Wild fell 1-0 in their first playoff game against Dryden Sport-top.
The Wild had opened the tournament with a scoreless draw against Dryden PetroPass and then couldn’t find the net in their second game, either, falling 5-0 to the Kenora Avalanche.
The Wild busted out in their third game, however, charming the Thunder Bay Magic 5-1 to finish the preliminary play at 1-1-1 before being edged 1-0 by Dryden Sport-top on Saturday night to bow out of the tournament.
Doug Kitowski Trucking, meanwhile, was unable to score a win to make it out of the preliminary round of the Midget division.
Kitowski opened with a 4-1 loss to Dryden Timeout before solving nothing with a scoreless tie against the Thunder Bay Hurricanes.
On Saturday morning, Kitowski was blanked 2-0 by the Thunder Bay Sharks before letting the Dryden Eliminators live up to their nickname, losing 3-2 to round out their tourney play.
