Joey Payeur
Being younger on average than most of their opposition and missing five regulars from the lineup, the stars were not exactly aligned in the favour of the Borderland Rage.
As it turned out, Rage coach Les Kaun’s fears were realized, as the girls regional hockey squad wound up seventh out of eight teams in the 16U division at the eighth-annual Mountain Dew Blast hockey tournament in Blaine, Mn.
“We only had eight forwards for the whole weekend,” revealed Kaun, whose roster was depleted due to other hockey commitments for his absent quintet.
“We also were a mostly 15-year-old team playing against teams that were all mostly 16.”
Borderland nearly had a win in its opener, but finished in a 2-2 tie with the Ice Bucks.
“The Bucks finished first in our pool, but to tie us, they had to pull their goalie to do it,” stated Kaun, whose team gave up the equalizer with 45 seconds remaining in the third.
Jill Calder of Fort Frances and Marryn Wilberg of Bemidji had the goals for Borderland, who then were dumped 5-2 by Skate to Excellence, led by Lisa Nadneau’s hat trick.
“No. 22 (Nadneau) was really good..It seemed like she was getting four shots a shift,” commented Kaun, whose squad was outshot 43-22.
“We fell apart.”
Blaine product Allisyn Hulst and the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints’ Seanna Cyncora had the Rage markers, while Dryden Eagles goalie Jessie Pettinger (the only netminder on the Rage roster for the weekend) kicked out 38 shots.
Borderland finished Pool ‘B’ play with a 2-1 loss to Ice Edge, with Calder picking up the only tally for the Rage.
That gave Ice Edge the third-place tiebreaker advantage over Borderland, which was left to compete in the seventh-place final against winless Border East Union.
Border East opened the scoring in the first period on a goal from Lillian Accola, but Calder tied it with her team-high third goal of the tourney with 2:43 left in the frame.
The Saints’ Shania White bulged the twine for the go-ahead and game-winning goal with 4:34 left remaining in the second.
White’s high school teammate, Jenee DeGagne, added an insurance marker with 18.9 seconds to go in the stanza.
Pettinger picked up the win between the pipes.
