THUNDER BAY, ON — There were four Thunder Bay Queens teams in tournament action today. At home, in the Elks Central Canada Tournament, the Peewee Queens got off to an early 8:30 am start against the Westfort Rangers Peewee AA. The Peewees opened the scoring on a goal by Avery Olenik but Westfort responded with four answered goals in the first period. Ella Mannila’s lone goal in the second period cut the lead to two. The 4-2 score held for the majority of the third, save for an empty net goal by the Rangers with 30 seconds left.
Over in Quebec City, the Sportop Midget AA Queens started the International Girls Hockey Tournament of Quebec against the Nepean Wildcats. After a scoreless first period, Thunder Bay would finally break mid-way through the second as Victoria Darosa setup Brenna Nicol to break the double-shoutout bid. The 1-0 lead carried into the third where Nepean tied things up early on but the Sportop Queens responded quickly after Kaylee Grosjean would bury on a play made by Dayna Doucet to give the Queens the lead. Two minutes later Molly Kunnas buried an insurance goal which the Queens would need since the Wildcats would score in the last minute but ultimately concede to the Queens, 3-2.
In their afternoon date, the Midget AAs faced off with Husky CH who would draw first blood scoring six minutes into the game. Queens goalie Makenna Burke kept her team’s chances alive until Victoria Darosa could muster a late second-period goal to tie the game. Both teams refused to yield another goal as the game ended in a 1-1 tie.
West of Thunder Bay, in Winnipeg, we find the Topper’s Pizza Midget A Queens compete for the Lieutenant Governor’s Cup. This campaign started with a nail bitter against the Manitoba Blizzard. A single regulation goal by Kailey Swerhun was matched by a single goal from the Blizzard meaning over-time would be needed to settle the game. Just under five minutes in, Caitlin Olinski would score the game winner while goaltender Mya Gowanlock stopped 26 of 27 shots. In their second game, the Midget As met the Prairie Blaze in a fast back and forth game. There was some early controversy in the game as the Queens first goal of the game was called a good goal by the ref but was turned over after a consultation with their other officials. The Queens coached challenged and convinced the official to see the call a different way but a further rule was used to overthrow the call. The disallowed goal left Thunder Bay down 2-1 after one. After a scoreless second, two goals by Queens players Jessie Scott and Swerhun were paced by a couple goals from the Blaze as the Topper’s Queens fell 4-3.
And South of the border in Fargo, North Dakota, the Bantam A Queens dropped a 2-1 decision to the Chaska Chanhassen in their opening game of the SCHEELS Girl’s International 15U.
