After finishing in second place in their pool, the local Bantam “AA” B•Macs ran into a buzz saw from Winkler in the semi-finals of their own tournament here Sunday morning.
Leading 2-1 midway in the second period, Winkler (which had been 3-0 in pool play) erupted for five goals to ice a 7-2 victory and bounce the B•Macs from further contention.
A.J. Tucker and Kris Esselink scored in a losing cause.
Winkler went on to win the tournament after downing the Thunder Bay Beavers 5-3 in the final. The Westfort Maroons (Thunder Bay) won the consolation final by trouncing the North End Flames (Thunder Bay) 7-1.
“Overall, I think the main problem was our defensive play,” B•Macs head coach Brad Fairnington said. “It was a total team fallout in the defensive end and we dug ourselves a hole.”
The B•Macs, despite obvious problems in their own end, managed to finish second in their pool after battling back from a 3-1 second-period deficit to earn a 6-6 tie with the Sioux Lookout Warriors.
Tucker and Lockman scored two goals apiece in that one while Jeff Friesen and Nathan Miller added singles.
They had opened action Friday afternoon with a 2-0 shutout over the North End Flames. Lockman scored a goal and added an assist while Robert Atatise netted the other goal.
The B•Macs then played to a 3-3 draw Friday night against the Maroons on goals by Esselink (two) and Tucker.
Fairnington said the team fell behind all weekend, which makes it difficult to come back and win. He added their performance was a far cry from the one they put forth in their previous tournament (in which they lost in the final).
“We did everything right in our first tournament but actually we haven’t done real good with our past teams at our home tournament,” he noted.
The next tournament action for the B•Macs will be in mid-January in Dryden.