THUNDER BAY – The Kenora Thistles came up with a solid all-around effort over the weekend to sweep the Thunder Bay under-13 Kings in two straight games to capture the Hockey Northwestern Ontario U13 AAA Branch Championship held at Fort William First Nation Arena.
In the opener of the best-of-three affair Friday, the Thistles started strong, taking a 2-0 lead before the contest was a minute and a half old on tallies from Westyn DeGagne and Teddy Mittleholt.
Jacob Nadon came back to put the Kings on the board midway through the season stanza, only to see Jace Richard respond for Kenora moments later.
Regrouping, Thunder Bay notched goals from Cooper Christensen and Chandon Adduono to knot the affair at 3-3 after two periods.
In the third, Richards struck shorthanded to put the Thistles back on top before Christensen clicked on the power play to tie it once more.
Then with overtime looming, Richards completed the hat trick, picking up the game-winner with just 24 seconds remaining in regulation to secure the win.
Game 2 Saturday saw Kenora strike quickly once more on early markers courtesy on Tucker Simms and Sawyer Jourdain.
Building on that, the Thistles, coached by former Lakehead University Thunderwolves standout, Jeff Richards, put it away by connecting three times on the man advantage in the back-half of the proceedings earn the win.
Jourdain had two of those extra-man efforts, while Richards had the other, in the victory. Braeden Little chipped in with three assists to aid the cause.
Posting the shutout to wrap-up the HNO title was netminder Henry Nyberg.
The Thistles will now move to represent HNO at the All-Ontario U13 AAA championship, April 8-12, in Waterloo.
Thunder Bay’s season continues however, as they are scheduled to compete in the Northern Ontario Hockey League’s playoff tournament, March 27-29, in Sault Ste. Marie.
There they’ll take on the North Bay Trappers; Sudbury Wolves and host Soo Jr. Greyhounds for NOHL U13 supremacy.
WEEKEND WRAP: The Thunder Bay U15 Kings were in Faribault, Minn., for a two-game set against a strong Shattuck-St. Mary’s Sabres U14 squad.
Shattuck proved to be too much for Thunder Bay, winning by scores of 8-4 and 9-0.
The head coach of that Sabres’ team is Kings’ alumnus and Thunder Bay native Christian Bragnalo.
He has guided Shattuck-St. Mary’s to a solid 37-9-1 overall record, so far on their campaign.
Photo credit: James Mirabelli
