West End Motors captured the title of a Tom Thumb tournament in Keewatin on Sunday, nipping Skates & Blades 4-3 in a shootout in an all-Fort Frances championship final.
Ben Drazenovich netted the game-winner in the shootout after both teams failed to score in a 3-on-3 five-minute overtime.
West End Motors had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Dayton Brown scored with 5:07 to play. Then they stretched that to 2-0 on a goal by Drazenovich.
Skates & Blades cut into that deficit on Kyle Turgeon’s unassisted goal with 5:02 left in the second. But West End Motors regained their two-goal advantage just 59 seconds later when Josh Scott found the twine.
But Skates & Blades didn’t quit. First George Halverson scored to make it 3-2, then Zach McCool tallied with just over five minutes to go to force the overtime.
West End Motors reached the final after a 6-2 win over Red Lake Gold Corp. Drazenovich netted a hat trick in that one while Scott, Jason Rose, and Curtis Watkins added singles.
Skates & Blades advanced to the final after downing the Times Tigers (Fort Frances) 4-1.
Matt Hebert, Julia Martin, McCool, and Turgeon all scored for Skates & Blades while Nathan Calder netted the Tigers’ lone goal.
West End Motors reeled off three-straight lopsided wins to get to the playoffs–outscoring their opponents by a whopping 24-5 margin.
They opened with a 9-1 win over Lake of the Woods, beat the Kenora Red Hounds 6-1, and then trounced the Kenora Subway Sharks 9-3.
Rose, Brown and Drazenovich each scored twice against LOW while Darren Foster, Watkins, and Scott added singles. Against the Red Hounds, Derek Morrison scored twice while Scott, Brown, Justin Rose, and Drazenovich also tallied.
Against the Sharks, Drazenovich led the way with five goals. Andrew Maki (two), Michael McCaig, and Brown rounded out the scoring.
Skates & Blades also dominated their opponents leading up to the playoffs. They opened action with a 4-2 win over the Sioux Lookout Flames, paced by goals from Halverson, Zach McCool, Turgeon, and Michael Jourdain.
Then they skated to a 7-1 rout over the Red Lake Campbell Nuggets, led by a four-goal effort from Turgeon. Halverson, Steve Beck, and Hebert also scored in that one.
They continued their strong play with a 3-0 shutout over Kenora Petro Canada. Turgeon scored twice in that one while Hebert also tallied in the win.
T.J. Pocock earned the shutout in goal.
Meanwhile, the Times Tigers also did well before their semi-final loss. They began the tournament with a 3-2 win over the Dryden Canucks on goals by Alex Shoemaker, Joseph McMillan, and Josh Sigurdson.
Then they dumpedthe Keewatin Place Blues 7-3 before crushing Kenora Tim Horton’s 11-1.
Brent Johnson (three), Steven Pawlikowski, Tyson Grinsell, Sigurdson, and Brandon Thompson scored against Keewating. Then Sigurdson had a field day against Tim Horton’s, scoring the first three goals of the game and adding four assists.
Grinsell had a hat trick in that one, too, while Shoemaker (two), Calder, McMillan, and Johnson also scored.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
