It was a banner weekend for the local Pinewood Sports Bantam girls’ hockey team as they battled through multiple overtimes in the championship game to claim a 1-0 victory over the Bratland Huskies (Dryden) at the annual Kathy Sanders Memorial tournament.
The see-saw affair featured end-to-end action—and solid goaltending—as the two teams engaged in a scoreless tie after three periods.
After five minutes of sudden death overtime failed to produce a winner, the teams battled four on four, then three on three, and finally two on two.
It was 31 seconds into the two on two that veteran defenceman Nina Bird took a pass from Carly Holt, headed down the ice, and fired home a backhander to claim the trophy for Pinewood Sports.
Pinewood Sports had opened play Friday night with a 4-1 win over the Dryden Hillcrest Hotshots on goals by Cassandra Cochrane (Jessica Barker), Holt (unassisted), Brittany Galusha (Holt), and Holt (Deanna Saunders/Galusha).
Their second game with the Bratland Huskies on Saturday was a low-scoring affair. Holt (Saunders/Bird) put Pinewood Sports up 1-0 in the first, then she also scored in the second (from Galusha) to ice the 2-0 victory.
The semi-final showdown Saturday night was an emotional match-up, with 15 penalties handed out and just two goals scored.
Once again, Holt was on her game as she fired the game’s first goal from Bird midway through the first period, then teamed with Bird to set up Galusha just 30 seconds later to make the final 2-0 over the Thunder Bay Ninja Turtles.
Meanwhile, the Emo Esso PeeWee girls also made a dramatic run through the tournament, opening play Friday afternoon with a 5-2 win over the Dryden Hurricanes.
Then on Saturday morning, they tangled with the Thunder Bay Petrie Stars, eking out a hard-fought 2-1 win before blasting the Kenora Wildcats 7-1 on Saturday afternoon.
A first-place finish in Pool ‘A’ propelled them into a semi-final showdown against the Thunder Bay Demons.
A narrow 2-0 win moved them into Sunday’s championship game against the Thunder Bay Maroons, with Emo picking up second-place honours after a 4-2 loss.
The Fort Frances Rolling Lake Lightning Novice girls also attended the tournament and had a series of close games, said coachs Dan Jean and John Hazel.
Rolling Lake opened play Friday night with a 3-0 loss to the Kenora Avalanche. Then they faced off against the Kenora Storm, dropping a 4-0 decision, before battling the Dryden Esso Tigers to a scoreless draw.
In Atom play, Mel Langtry and Brad Webb lead their Fort Frances Kaemingh Esso charges into action—and what a weekend it was.
Esso opened with a hard-fought tie against the BDO Blizzards (Dryden), then rose to the challenge Saturday morning against the Thunder Bay Red Wings by earning a second tie.
That set the stage for a barnburner in their third game that ended in a triple overtime loss and elimination from the tournament.
Finally, the Fort Frances Skates and Blades PeeWees, with Stuart McIvor and Barb Galusha behind the bench, opened play with a tough 2-1 loss to the Dryden PT Cruisers.
The Blades then faced off with the Thunder Bay Demons on Saturday morning, dropping a 5-0 decision, before taking on the eventual tournament champion Thunder Bay Maroons that afternoon and losing 4-0.
The Fort Frances girls now are readying for a pair of local tournaments.
The PeeWee, Bantam, and Midget girls will host a tourney Feb. 13-15 while the Novice and Atom girls will stage one the following weekend.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
