hunder Bay Kings AAA Hockey
Media Update
Release date: Monday, October 23, 2017
Bantam Kings crowned NAHL Futures Prospects Tournament champions
BLAINE, Minn. – Nolan Desjardins’ second goal of the game, 23 seconds into the overtime, lifted the Thunder Bay bantam Kings to the title in the championship game of the North American Hockey League’s Future Prospects tournament Monday afternoon in Blaine, Minn.
Special teams allowed Thunder Bay to notch the day’s opening tally 13:31 in as Jack Cook set-up Shaymus Stevenson for a power play marker.
Desjardins then put the Kings up by a pair as he supplied the lone tally of the second period.
Battling back, Valley Forge struck twice early in the third to knot the affair at 2-2 with Owen McLaughlin connecting on a man advantage at 1:03 while Noah Leach tied it for the Minutemen less than two minutes later.
It stayed level through the remainder of regulation, but it was Desjardins who prevailed as the OT hero with the early game-winner to give Thunder Bay the crown.
The Kings outshot their opponents 33-23 in the contest with Gage Stewart picking up the win.
With the title, the bantams will look to carry that momentum into their next tourney, the Big Nickel in Sudbury, Nov. 2-5.
Meanwhile in the final day of Round 2 of North American Prospects Hockey League play in Blaine Monday, the major midget Kings doubled up the California Titans 4-2 while the minor midget squad was bounced 6-0 by the Esmark Stars from Pittsburgh, Penn.
Under-18 action saw Thunder Bay start strong grabbing a 3-1 lead after one period of play with Robert Tyska, Zach Fortin and Bradley Fortier all scoring in the stanza.
After a scoreless middle session Fortin added some insurance in the third via the power play to help secure the decision.
Seth McKay recorded the win in goal for the major midgets.
As for the U-16 Kings they feel behind 3-0 before the game was five minutes old and could not recover in the loss.
Stephan Bourgeois started for Thunder Bay and suffered the loss while Eric Vanska played the majority of the contest in relief with the duo combining to face 33 shots in defeat.
