OTTAWA – Three of the four Thunder Bay Queens teams competing at the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association provincial championships in Ottawa remain in the hunt to play for a medal.
Both the Sportop midget AA and Ontario Power Generation midget A squads won their divisions and have advanced right to the quarter-finals while the Taranis Contracting bantam AA end up second in their grouping, which earned them a place in one of the qualifying games with a berth to the quarters on the line.
The Sportop Queens totally outplayed the Markham-Stouffville Stars Friday in their lone contest, outshooting them by a 44-9 margin, but could not solve their goaltender and had to settle for a 0-0 draw, which was still good enough to earn the divisional nod and a spot in the medal round.
Sydney Isbell registered the shutout for Thunder Bay who finished round robin play at 2-0-1.
The team will meet either the Stoney Creek Sabres or Sault Ste. Marie Wildcats Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in their quarter-final contest.
As for the OPG midget A side they too skated to a 0-0 draw in a contest vs. the Clearview Ice Cats to end up unbeaten at 2-0-1.
They will now take on the Windsor Wildcats Saturday at 7 p.m. with a spot in the semifinals awaiting the winner.
Meanwhile the Taranis bantam AA’s earned a place in the qualifying round after defeating the Peterborough Ice Kats 3-1 Friday to finish second in their division with a 2-1 mark.
Providing the opposition in Saturday’s game will be the North York Storm, which gets underway at 9:30 a.m.
The victor in that contest will take on the Etobicoke Dolphins in quarter-final play later in the day at 4:15 p.m.
Against Peterborough, the Queens opened the scoring in the middle frame thanks to a power play marker by Laura Deschamps with Zoe Hynnes and Samantha Isbell picking up assists.
After the Ice Kats tied it with a shorthanded effort in the third, Thunder Bay answered right back on a goal by Paige Sullivan that was set-up by Deschamps.
Julia Siciliano then added a late insurance tally with Sullivan and Isbell earning helpers.
Bailey Chenier turned in a stellar performance for the Queens to pick up the win between the pipes.
As for the Triad Contracting peewees they fell to 0-2 overall after dropping a 5-2 decision to the West North Humberland Wild.
The peewees wrap-up play Saturday at 12:30 p.m. vs. the Whitby Wolves.
Thunder Bay Queens OWHA provincial championship schedule
Thursday, April 4
Midget A: OPG Queens 3 Belmont Blazers 1
Midget AA: Sportop Queens 4 St. Catharines Chaos 1
Bantam AA: Oakville Hornets 2 Taranis Queens 1
Peewee: vs. Kitchener Lady Rangers 3 Triad Queens 0
Bantam AA: Taranis Queens 2 Kingston Ice Wolves 1
Midget AA: Sportop Queens 2 Whitby Wolves 1
Midget A: OPG Queens 3 Nepean Wildcats 1
Friday, April 5
Peewee: vs. West North Humberland Wild 5 Triad Queens 2
Bantam AA: Taranis Queens 3 Peterborough Ice Kats 1
Midget AA: Sportop Queens 0 Markham-Stouffville Stars 0
Midget A: OPG Queens 0 Clearview Ice Cats 0
Saturday, April 6
Bantam AA: vs. North York Storm 9:30 a.m. (Qualifier)
Peewee: vs. Whitby Wolves 12:30 p.m. (Round Robin)
Midget A: vs. Windsor Wildcats 7 p.m. (Quarter-final)
Midget AA: vs. Stoney Creek Sabres or Sault Ste. Marie Wildcats 7:30 p.m. (Quarter-final)
Sunday, April 7
T.B.D.
OWHA provincial schedule/results link
http://www.owha.on.ca/provincials_2013.asp
