Joey Payeur
Usually, the person running the sound booth during hockey games spins up tempo numbers in the rock-and-roll and rap genres during stoppages in play.
Yesterday at the Ice For Kids Arena, however, the theme of “Jaws” would have been more appropriate.
The Gillons’ Sharks closed out the scoring with four unanswered goals en route to a 7-2 pounding of the West End Bruins (Thunder Bay) in the gold-medal game of the Fort Frances Minor Hockey Association’s annual Atom ‘A’ tournament.
Annalise Hayes and Aiden Morrisseau each scored twice for the Sharks while Blake Jones, Brett Kenny, and Brody Joyce added singles.
Kristopher Sirios and Jordan Lem replied for the Bruins.
Morrisseau finished second in tournament scoring race with nine goals and two assists for 11 points, two behind Lem (nine goals/four assists), while Hayes (nine goals/one assist) tied for third with Matthew Favreau of the Keewatin Flyers (10 goals).
Gillons’ proved unbeatable at the tournament, racking up a perfect 5-0 record while winning by no less than three goals in any of their games.
The squad kicked off action with a 6-0 whitewash of the Atikokan Voyageurs.
That was followed by a 4-1 win over the Thunder Bay Elks Bear Kings and a 5-1 trouncing of the Dryden Bruins to conclude the preliminary round in first place in Pool ‘A.’
Gillons’ then advanced to the title game with a 4-1 victory in the ‘A’-side semi-final over the Causeway Cougars (Fort Frances).
The Cougars captured Pool ‘C’ with a 2-0-1 record.
Causeway beat the Emo Canucks 2-1 in their opener, then knocked off the Kenora Interior Decor Coyotes 6-4 before completing the preliminary round by tying the Kenora Legion Bruins 1-1.
The Canucks, meanwhile, brushed off an 0-2-1 record in the preliminary round to come back and win the ‘B’ final with a 7-5 triumph over the Keewatin Flyers.
Dakota Medicine was on fire for Emo in that one, ripping the Flyers for five goals, including the first four of the contest.
Jacob Barker and Carter Robinson added the others for Emo.
Matthew Favreau and Jordan Brown both bulged the twine twice for Keewatin, with Dominique Novelli adding a single.
Emo followed its opening loss to Causeway with an 8-7 loss to Keewatin and then a 3-3 tie with the Kenora Coyotes to finish second in Pool ‘C.’
The Canucks then beat the Elks Bear Kings 2-1 in a shootout in the ‘B’-side semi-finals.
The third Fort Frances squad in the 12-team event, the MEC Bulldogs, looked to be in line for a shot at the gold medal after going 3-0 in the preliminary round to capture top spot in Pool ‘B.’
The Bulldogs chewed up Keewatin 6-3, stomped Atikokan 9-1, and blanked the Elks Bear Kings 4-0.
But the West End Bruins halted MEC’s championship charge in the other ‘A’-side semi-final, scoring twice in the third period to pull out a 4-2 win and eliminate the Bulldogs from further contention.
The Sioux Lookout Chili Peppers claimed the ‘C’ title with a 6-1 torching of Dryden.
