Staff
Two local squads placed in the top three of a Novice boys’ tournament in Kenora over the weekend.
MacDonald Motors finished first in their pool and went all the way to the final before losing 3-1 to the Sioux Senators.
Skates & Blades, meanwhile, won the bronze-medal game.
Skates & Blades had opened with an 8-3 win over the Kenora Flyers, getting three goals from Ethan Jourdain and two each from James Gushulak and Byron Stewart.
Brett Kenny netted the other one.
Then they lost to the eventual tournament champs, the Sioux Senators, by a 5-3 score.
Jourdain netted another two goals, both in the third period, while Gushulak added the other.
Skates & Blades wrapped up the round-robin with a narrow 2-1 win over Dryden Nitro, getting goals from Chad Westover and Byron Stewart.
That left them in second place in their pool, relegating them to the ‘B’-side semi-finals, where they torched Sioux Lookout Ojibway Park 5-2.
Jourdain had his second hat-trick of the weekend while Stewart and Gushulak notched the other goals.
The Fort Frances squad then wrapped up the ‘B’-side title with an 8-1 win, backed by three goals from Gushulak and two off the stick of Jourdain.
Kenny, Blake Jones, and Stewart rounded out the offensive onslaught.
“The junior players played above their heads,” Skates & Blades coach Les Kaun said. “You always expect the senior players to play well, but it was nice to see the juniors play hard.”
