Penalty woes sink Cowboys

Penalties often can be the difference between winning and losing—something the Emo Cowboys learned the hard way here Sunday in the final of the Fort Frances Midget ‘A’ hockey tournament.
The Cowboys were firing on all cylinders through the first period-and-a-half, holding a comfortable 4-1 lead over Kenora Canadian Tire and controlling the tempo courtesy of some tough physical play.
But a string of Emo penalties midway through the second period caused the momentum to shift in favour of Kenora.
Canadian Tire then carried their newfound momentum over into the third period—scoring four times in the final 20 minutes to earn the improbable 5-4 victory and the tourney title.
“We went into the third period with a three-goal lead and we fell apart,” Cowboys’ assistant coach Dave Saunders remarked afterwards.
“It was undisciplined penalties that got us in trouble,” he added. “The other team, we’d played them before and we knew they were a tough team, a fast skating team.
“They took advantage of our penalties and that was the turning point of the game.”
But while Saunders was lamenting his team’s penalty woes, Kenora co-head coach Andy Scribilo was lauding his team for their never-say-die attitude.
“It’s unbelievable how these boys can play,” he enthused. “They pulled a rabbit out of the hat when they had to.
“It was a good thing we had the intermission after the first because they got their heads together and played unbelievably in the second and third,” he added.
Colin Kaemingh opened the scoring for Emo when he intercepted a clearing attempt in the Kenora zone, turned, and fired a quick shot past a surprised Matthew Kozlowski in the Canadian Tire net.
The Cowboys made it 2-0 minutes later when Tyler Huntley’s wraparound attempt slid across the Canadian Tire crease and onto teammate Chris Mutz’s stick, who wasted little time firing the puck into the yawning cage.
Charlie Debungee picked up the second assist.
Emo then struck for the third time in the period thanks largely to a slick play by Huntley. He kicked Terry Carmody’s pass over to Kaemingh, who fired a quick wrist shot past Kozlowski.
Kenora finally got on the board before the end of the period when Tanner Devlin intercepted a clearing attempt and fired a slapshot past Cowboys’ goalie Andrew Wilson, but Emo still was well in control at the intermission.
And in fact, the Cowboys began the second period in much the same fashion as they had in the first—scoring an early marker to jump out to a 4-1 lead.
Huntley’s snap shot was saved by Kozlowski but the rebound found its way onto the stick of Mutz, who netted his second goal of the game.
Debungee again was credited with the second assist.
But Mutz’s goal would prove to be the last thing the Emo fans would have to cheer about as the Cowboys took five-straight penalties to end the period—completely shifting the momentum in Kenora’s favour.
Canadian Tire pressed the attack early in the third and caught a break when an Emo defender covered the puck with his glove in the crease.
Kenora was awarded a penalty shot and Darcy Williamson made no mistake converting the scoring opportunity and cutting Emo’s lead to a pair of goals.
The visitors got another lucky break minutes later when Carl Ginn beat Wilson from a near impossible angle with a harmless-looking shot.
Sensing that the Cowboys were reeling, Canadian Tire poured on the pressure. John Hendy finally netted the equalizer when he stepped out from behind the Emo goal and slipped a wraparound past Wilson.
Williamson then completed the improbable comeback when he took a pass from Hendy and fired a snap shot past Wilson from the top of the face-off circle to give his team the 5-4 lead—their first of the game.
The Cowboys tried a comeback of their own in the waning moments of the game, but could not beat Kozlowski to force overtime as Kenora took home the tourney title.
The Cowboys advanced to the final after posting a 1-1-2 record in round-robin play.
They opened the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Fort Frances OPP. Then after losing 3-1 to Kenora, they tied the Fort Frances Legion 3-3 and the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association 2-2.
Kenora, meanwhile, earned a berth in the final courtesy of a round-robin record of 3-1.
They opened the tournament with a pair of wins—2-1 over FFMHA and 3-1 over Emo—before losing 2-1 to the Legion.
But Kenora rebounded from the loss with a convincing 9-3 victory over the OPP in their final round-robin game.