BLAINE, MN — Saturday morning at the CCM National Invitational saw the Gridlink Midget A Queens once again putting up their best effort against a powerhouse AAA team but fell 6-0 to Team Northern. The girls would get the rest of the day off and will have one last game against Team Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, the Sportop Midget AA Queens took on Elite Red with a 1:30 pm start time. The previous game’s hero, Mackenzie Lehto would get things started early on the first on the power play on a feed from Kailey Swerhun. The Queens extended their lead soon after, again on the power play, this time with Alexis Paddington drawing an assist on a goal by Molly Kunnas. Elite Red would, however, cut the lead to one late in the period. In the second period, Elite Red would notch their second and third unanswered goals to take a lead into the final frame but late in the game, Jamie Ricklefs would tie the game with Lucy Newman drawing the primary and only assist. The 3-3 tie would hold as the game ended in a draw.
In their evening date with MGCHA-1, the Sportop Queens found themselves down 3-0 in the third with their opponent doing all that damage in a span of about 10 minutes. Victoria Darosa would score with 22 seconds left to cut the lead to two. In the third, a goal from Kailey Swerhun would knock the lead down one more but MGCHA-1 wouldn’t relinquish the tying goal, taking the game 3-2 and outshooting the Queens 31-24 on a 28 save performance by Queen’s goalie Kamryn Sandelovich.
Tomorrow the Midget AAs will finish the Showcase off with a contest against Colorado U19 at 9:25 am.
