STONEY CREEK, ON – The Sportop Midget AA Queens took part in their first tournament this weekend in the Stoney Creek Showcase which attracts 64 Midget AA girls teams from Canada and USA.The Queens schedule drew them the top 4 clubs in the 8-team McKibbon division while evading the two teams who went a combined 0-8-0 in the round robin. While this inauspicious dance card didn’t yield a sparkling record, it did provide excellent competition and opportunity for late game heroics.
Friday brought about a couple of 1-goal losses, first a 1-0 loss to the Whitby Wolves which saw the Queens have a disallowed goal among other close chances in a dominantly played 3rd period. In their evening slate, a 4-3 loss to the Waterloo Ravens who squeaked out a late powerplay goal.
On Saturday, the Queens faced two teams who went undefeated on day one in the Kitchener Lady Rangers and London Devilettes. Both matches would go through scoreless overtimes and end in 2-2 draws.
The Sportop Queens would drop their go-home game 2-0 to the Eastman Selects from Manitoba. Molly Kunnas and Jamie Ricklefs led the weekend scoring for Thunder Bay with two goals and a helper each while goaltenders Aden Johnson and Makenna Burke maintained a steady pace, keeping opponents to 2 goals or less in 4 of 5 games.
