Thunder Bay Hockey Power
THUNDER BAY – Sports News – The Thunder Bay Queens will be represented in each of the three championship games Sunday at the organization’s annual Showcase Weekend taking place at Fort William First Nation Arena.
The third and final team to earn their way to a final was the First Class Gas bantam AA Queens who earned a berth in the midget title contest by virtue of a hard-fought 1-0 decision over the Thunder Bay midget Fury.
Joining them will be the Triad Contracting Queens who will take on the Winnipeg East Saints in the peewee finale at 8 a.m. while the Manshield Construction Queens will take on the Fort Frances Leafs at 9:30 a.m. to vie for the title in the bantam division.
Playing up an age-group the FCG bantam AA Queens will meet the Schreiber North Shore Stars in the midget championship match-up at 11 a.m. after Schreiber upset the previously unbeaten Winnipeg East bantam AA Saints 2-1 in the other semifinal.
The following is the recaps of the two midget semifinal contests:
GAME 20: Midget: Semifinal—Schreiber North Shore Stars 2 Winnipeg East Saints 1 – No. 4 seed Schreiber surprised top-ranked Winnipeg in the opening semifinal in the division skating to a narrow decision.
Kayla Koevoet staked the Stars to the lead midway through the opening stanza scoring unassisted.
Schreiber would extend their lead 10:14 into the second stanza as Koevoet struck again to put her side up a pair after two periods of play.
Emilie Masse put the Saints on the board with just over nine minutes remaining, but the Stars and goaltender Danielle Nadeau shut the door the rest of the way to complete the upset of previously unbeaten Winnipeg.
Danielle Bonot-Schmidt suffered the setback in net for Winnipeg who were eliminated despite only giving up three goals in four games.
GAME 21: Midget: Semifinal—First Class Gas Queens 1 Thunder Bay Fury 0 – An all-Thunder Bay semifinal went the way of the Queens by the narrowest of margins.
The only goal of the contest would come off the stick of Emile Varrin, via the power play, with 13:04 remaining in regulation.
Danielle Saunders recorded the lone assist on the game-winning tally.
Alyssa Aho posted the shutout for the Queens with Callie Bevilacqua also putting in a superb effort for the Fury despite the slim defeat.
QUEENS SHOWCASE
DAY 2 SCHEDULE/RESULTS (Saturday, Dec. 7)
Peewee: Triad Contracting Queens 3 Duluth Icebreakers 0
Peewee: Winnipeg East Saints 6 Fort Frances Nor-Fab Flames 0
Bantam: Fort Frances Leafs 3 Thunder Bay Bantam Fury 1
Midget: First Class Gas Queens 4 Schreiber North Shore Stars 3
Midget: Winnipeg East Saints 2 Thunder Bay Midget Fury 0
Peewee: Semifinal—Triad Contracting Queens 10 Fort Frances Nor-Fab Flames 0
Peewee: Semifinal—Winnipeg East Saints 3 Duluth Icebreakers 2 (Shootout)
Bantam: Semifinal—Manshield Construction Queens 3 Thunder Bay Fury 0
Midget Showcase: Sportop midget AA Queens 4 Norcan Travel & Tours midget A Queens 0
Midget: Semifinal—Schreiber North Shore Stars 2 Winnipeg East Saints 1
Midget: Semifinal—First Class Gas Queens 1 Thunder Bay Fury 0
DAY 3 SCHEDULE: THE FINALS (Sunday, Dec. 8)
Peewee Final: Triad Contracting Queens vs. Winnipeg East Saints 8 a.m. (Rink 1)
Bantam Final: Fort Frances Leafs vs. Manshield Construction Queens (Rink 1)
Midget Final: Schreiber North Shore Stars vs. First Class Gas Queens 11 a.m. (Rink 1)
