THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Queens AA Midget hockey ladies continued their winning ways. A week after winning two titles in Minnesota the Thunder Bay Queens have won yet another tournament south of the border.
The latest triumph came Sunday as the Sportop midget AA Queens blanked the Shaftesbury Prep Titans of Winnipeg 2-0 in the championship of the Minnesota Thoroughbreds Thanksgiving tournament in St. Paul, Minn.
Jayde Turcotte stopped all 19 shots she faced to post the shutout for Thunder Bay who fired 25 attempts on the Shaftesbury net.
Samantha Isbell would notch the only goal the Queens’ would need in this one as she buried the game-winner midway through the opening period with assists going to Emily Oleksuk and Farrah Nicholl.
Thunder Bay then added some insurance early in the second as Michelle Carlson finished off the work of Nicholl and Karli Nummikoski to round out the scoring.
Turcotte and the Queens’ defensive coverage did the rest in preventing Shaftesbury from winning the same tournament they won in 2012.
The Queens advanced to the final earlier in the day as they defeated Program of Excellence of Kelowna, B.C. 5-3 in semifinal action.
Samantha Strassburger had the winner in that one while the other markers came from Carlson Bronwyn Bolduc, Oleksuk striking shorthanded, along with Alexandra Sawyer on the power play in the semifinal victory while Kaley Tienhaara dished out two assists.
Last weekend saw the First Glass Gas bantam AA and the Triad Contracting peewee Queens both celebrate tourney titles at the All-American Girls event in Blaine, Minn. Turcotte made 18 stops in that win.
