The local Sunset Ford Mustangs “AA” Atom hockey team dropped a 5-1 decision to Roseau on Sunday in the ‘B’ final of a six-team tournament in Baudette.
The loss, despite some outstanding goaltending from Wade Friesen, relegated the Mustangs to a fourth-place finish.
Mike Spencer, assisted by Jared Catholique-Bruyere and Scott Howarth, scored the lone Fort goal.
The Kenora Thistles bounced Red Lake 8-3 in the ‘A’ final while Rainy River product Jeremy Bellar scored three times as host Baudette edged International Falls 4-2 in the ‘C’ final.
The Mustangs opened action last Friday with a narrow 5-4 win over Roseau. Defenceman Shawn Egan scored his third goal of the game with 9:40 to play to ice the win.
Cody Dittaro and David Pierce also scored while Scott McFayden added a pair of assists.
Then on Saturday morning, the Mustangs played a rugged, no-holds-barred game against the Red Lake Rockets in a 3-2 loss.
Red Lake opened the scoring in the first period, which held up until Howarth and Josh Johnston set up Andrew Perrault with the equalizer at 11:02 of the third.
The Rockets then scored a pair of goals to go up 3-1. But with goalie Steve Robertson pulled for an extra attacker, Egan and McFayden set up Justin Larson with 1:08 to play to pull the Mustangs to within one.
But that was as close as they would get.
The Mustangs also fell behind early against Baudette later Saturday afternoon but rallied for a 6-5 win on McFayden’s game-winner with just 1:20 on the clock.
Trailing 2-0, the Mustangs roared back on goals by Pierce, Larson, and Lucas Romaniuk to grab a 3-2 lead. Then the teams traded goals–with Larson and Romaniuk tallying for the Mustangs–to make it 5-5, setting the stage for McFayden’s heroics.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
