BLAINE, Minn. – SPORTS – The Thunder Bay RBC Dominion Securities bantam AA Queens capped off a successful weekend in Minnesota skating to a four-game sweep vs. clubs from suburban Minneapolis.
Thunder Bay opened up the weekend with a 5-0 shutout of the Roseville Raiders Friday with Makenna Burke stopping all 12 shots she faced to post the shutout.
Karadyn Kiviaho led the Queens offensively notching a hat trick and adding an assist.
Molly Kunnas and Vanessa Nicholl notched the other goals while Victoria Darosa and Nicholl also chipped in with two assists apiece.
Saturday saw the bantam AA squad play twice and tack on two more victories by rolling over the Champlin Park Rebels 9-0 before sinking the Minnetonka Skippers 5-3.
In the triumph over Champlin Park, Kunnas tallied twice while Brooke Herman, Allyson Lesperance, Victoria Zieroth, Caitlyn Radbourne, Darosa, Nicholl and Kiviaho supplied singles.
Carly Hennessey added three helpers for Thunder Bay while Burke registered her second straight shutout.
Against Minnetonka, the Queens jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period of play on markers by Nicholl and Brenna Bohonos.
After the Skippers pulled to within one in the middle frame, the bantam AA’s countered with tallies from Darosa and Lesperance to go up by three.
Zieroth added one more for Thunder Bay with Burke picking up the win a contest that saw outshoot their opponents 36-16.
Capping off the unbeaten weekend the Queens edged the Blaine Bengals 3-2 Sunday in a tightly contested game.
After Kunnas gave Thunder Bay the early lead midway through the opening session, Nicholl finished off the work of Hennessy and Darosa to make it 2-0 in the second.
The host Bengals struck twice 44 seconds apart late in the middle frame to knot the score heading into the third.
There Kunnas buried the game-winner and second goal of the game with just over eight minutes remaining to give the Queens the win.
Burke earned another victory for her side making 11 saves overall.
The next out of town action for the RBC Dominion Securities bantam AA Queens will be the St. Luke’s Icebreaker tournament Jan. 16-18 in Duluth, Minn.
Meanwhile the Sportop midget AA Queens and their midget A counterparts played in a weekend set at home at Fort William First Nation Arena.
The midget AA’s opened with a 1-1 draw with the Dryden Eagles Friday before defeating the Pembina Valley Hawks 5-0 Saturday and the Fort Frances Muskies 3-1 Sunday.
As for the midget A’s they began with a 4-1 decision vs. Pembina Valley Friday.
Mikayla Sparks paced the Queens with a pair of goals with Madeline Browczuk and Allison Pages notching solo markers.
Alyssa Cicigoi and Whitney Scott picked up assists while Taylor Gombola earned the win in net.
Game No. 2 saw Cameron Ivall record the shutout as the midget A’s blanked Dryden 3-0.
Pages, Cicigoi and Scott all scored for Thunder Bay with helpers going to Montana Russo, Jacqueline Desimone, Mary Flaherty, Jordyn Paris and Browczuk.
The club then dropped their final game, a hard-fought 1-0 setback to Fort Frances Saturday evening with Annalise Hayes scoring for the Muskies with just 95 seconds remaining.
