Justin Larson scored the decisive goal with 5:37 to play in the second period to help lift the McDonald’s ‘AA’ Atom rep team to a 4-3 win over the Neebing Hawks 10s in the ‘B’ final of a 12-team tournament here last weekend.
The Fort squad jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old on goals by Shaun Egan (unassisted) and Scott Bridgeman, assisted by Larson and Bryan Chambers.
Justin Gvora sliced the lead to 2-1 at 10:47 of the first but Bridgeman restored McDonald’s two-goal advantage with a goal just 30 seconds later to give the host squad a 3-1 lead.
Jesse Demeo brought Neebing back within one in the second before Larson got his goal to make it 4-2. Gvora scored his second goal of the game later in the second but it wasn’t enough as neither team could score in the third.
McDonald’s reached the final with a 3-0 shutout over the South End Rangers (Thunder Bay) in the ‘B’ semi-finals Saturday night. Brett Perreault and Andrew George scored first-period goals while Larson added one in the third for the victory.
Jason Green earned the shutout.
McDonald’s opened play Friday morning with a 4-3 loss to that same South End squad despite a goal and two assists from Perreault.
Matt Sisco and George also scored in the loss.
But McDonald’s rebounded in their second game later that afternoon with a 9-0 romp over the Westfort Rangers (Thunder Bay).
George led the way with four goals and an assist while Sisco, Chambers, Egan, Scott Howarth, and Larson added singles.
Josh Leatherdale earned the shutout.
McDonald’s then battled to a 3-3 tie with Baudette on Saturday afternoon, paced by two goals and an assist from Bridgeman. Chambers scored the other McDonald’s goal and also added an assist.
The Norwest Stars (Thunder Bay) won the tournament with a 7-4 victory over Baudette in the ‘A’ final Sunday while the Kaemingh Esso Leafs (Emo) captured the ‘C’ title with a lopsided 7-2 win over the Dryden Rangers.
Emo reached the final with a 7-2 win over Westfort in the semi-final. They opened the tournament with a 5-3 victory over Dryden before losing 9-3 to Norwest and then 8-2 to the Neebing Hawks 10s.
Emo game MVPs for the tournament included Joey Galloway, Tyler Barker, Tanner Kaemingh, Jamie Davis, and David Pollard.