THUNDER BAY – Sports – The Thunder Bay Ontario Power Generation midget A Queens took two of three games against the Keweenaw Storm in an exhibition series against the Michigan based under-19 squad played in Duluth, Minn., over the weekend. Thunder Bay took the opening two match-ups winning by scores of 2-0 in the opener and 1-0 in the nightcap Saturday before the Storm bounced back to take the finale 4-2 Sunday.
In the opener Taylor Basarba broke open a scoreless tie in the third period by notching the game-winner and adding an insurance marker later in the frame to supply all the offense the squad would need.
Mikayla Sparks and Allison Pages assisted on Basaraba’s first effort while Kaarina Kotanen set-up the other.
Alannah Dzijacky turned aside all 26 shots she faced to register the shutout in a game that saw her outside out shot by five.
In game two of the day it was a Lexxi Saarinen effort in the second period that proved to be the margin of victory for Thunder Bay.
Natasha Lyons did the rest in net stopping all 22 attempts she faced to blank the Storm who once again held the shots on goal margin by a 22-14 count.
Keweenaw took Sunday’s contest storming out to a 2-0 lead heading into the second period only to see Basaraba trim the deficit to one finishing off a feed by Sparks.
Thunder Bay tied it early in the third on a marker by Jessica Minoletti on an assist by Marielle Orr.
However a couple of late bounces went the way of the Storm as they went on to win avoideing the weekend sweep. Lyons started the game splitting the contest with Dzijacky who entered the game playing the second half.
The next out of town action for the OPG midget A Queens will be the CAN/AM Classic Feb. 15-18 in Madison, Wis.
