Staff
The Fort Frances Wolves (Ma’iingan) showed some bite to their game over the weekend.
Fort Frances blanked the Kenora Huskies 3-0 in Sunday morning’s Novice division final to capture the gold medal at the Fort Frances Girls’/Women’s Hockey Association’s annual Novice and Atom tournaments at the Ice For Kids Arena.
After a scoreless first period, Quinn Miller opened the scoring in the second frame when she skated around the Huskies’ defence before firing a low shot home with 6:46 to go.
Chiles Perreault then doubled the lead just under four minutes later when she poked home the loose puck after Huskies’ goalie Julia Landon misplayed it in her crease.
Aibigail Matheson capped the scoring with 51.7 seconds to go in the third when she tapped one past Landon.
Kinsley McCoy turned aside all the shots she faced to earn the shutout.
The Wolves had opened tourney play Friday morning with a narrow 4-3 win over the Emo Express.
Jorja Guertin notched a hat trick while Perrault also scored to pace the Wolves’ offence.
Isabellea Foster scored twice while Arianna Tom also tallied for the Express.
The Wolves then rolled to a 7-2 romp over the Dryden Paper Queens that afternoon on the strength of Guertin’s six-goal performance.
Perreault and Brianne Lapointe added singles to round out the offence.
On Saturday morning, Fort Frances battled the Huskies to a 2-2 tie.
The Wolves trailed 2-0 heading into the third period but Guertin and Lapointe both tallied to even it up.
Fort Frances then ended round-robin play that afternoon with a 2-1 loss to the Kenora Red Devils to head into Sunday’s final with a 2-1-1 record.
Guertin scored the squad’s lone goal in the first period.
The Express, meanwhile, claimed the bronze medal Sunday by edging the Kenora Yeti’s 2-1.
Leah Teeple opened the scoring for the Express with 3:42 to go in the second but Kenora tied it up with 7:27 left in the third off the stick of Emmersyn DaMata.
But Brynlee Libiak tallied less than 30 seconds later to lift Emo to victory.
The Express had opened tourney play Friday morning with that 4-3 loss to the Wolves but then rebounded with a 2-1 win over the Red Devils that afternoon.
Kailyn Strachan and Mya LePage provided the goals in that one.
Then on Saturday morning, Emo battled to a 2-2 tie with the Yeti’s. Tom and LePage both lit the lamp for the Express.
The squad then ended round-robin play that afternoon with a 5-1 win over the Paper Queens to head into the bronze-medal game with a 2-1-1 record.
LePage notched all five of the Express’ goals in that one.
The Fort Frances Heat, the other local team competing in the Novice division, compiled a 2-2 record to finish shy of the medal round.
The Heat opened play Friday morning with a 3-1 win over the Red Devils.
Emma Windego scored twice while Peyton Arpin also tallied in that one.
Then that afternoon, the squad was blanked 3-0 by the Yeti’s but rebounded with a 3-0 shutout of their own the next morning against the Paper Queens.
Gianna Gushulak, Peyten Ducharme, and Melia Friend all bulged the twine for the Heat.
Fort Frances then ended tourney play that afternoon by being routed 7-2 by the Huskies.
Arpin and Gushulak got the goals in that one.
In Atom division action, the Fort Frances Herricanes fell just shy of the bronze medal with a 2-0 loss to the Dryden Hotshots on Sunday morning.
The Herricanes had opened play Friday morning with a 4-0 win over the Kenora Bandits.
Kali Tessier tallied twice while Rayna Whitefish and Davilyn Miller added singles.
The squad then blanked the Lorette Comets A2 5-0 that afternoon before cruising to a 6-1 romp over the Assiniboine Park Polar Bears on Saturday morning.
Tessier scored twice against the Comets while Makayla Gibbs and Miller each tallied twice against the Polar Bears.
The Herricanes then ended round-robin play that afternoon with a 5-0 loss to the Kenora Blizzard to head into the bronze-medal game with a 3-1 record.
The Fort Frances Storm, meanwhile, compiled a 2-2 record to finish shy of the medal round.
Fort Frances opened play Friday morning with a 2-1 win over the Emo Express but then fell 2-1 to the Kenora Ice Divas that afternoon.
The squad then ended tourney play Saturday with an 8-0 loss to the Comets A2 before rebounding with a 9-1 romp over the Comets A3.
The Comets A2 won the gold medal later Sunday with a 5-2 win over the Blizzard.
Up next, the FFGWHA will host its combined PeeWee, Bantam, and Midget tournaments this Friday through Sunday (Feb. 8-10).
