Thunder Bay Queens Hockey Organization

THUNDER BAY QUEENS HOCKEY

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Media Release: Saturday, September 9, 2017

Kunnas Clutch in Two 2-2 Ties

HAMILTON, ON – On day two of the Stoney Creek Midget AA Showcase, the Sportop Queens continued their quest for their first win of the tournament having come out on the wrong end of two one-goal games on Friday.

Saturday afternoon, they met undefeated Kitchener Lady Rangers. Thunder Bay netminder, Makenna Burke would shut out Kitchener in the first period as the game would be scoreless until with 21 seconds remaining in the opening frame when Molly Kunnas would pot her first of the season just before the flood on a setup from Sydney White.

Kitchener exacted revenge with back to back goals late in the 2nd and early on in the 3rd to take a 2-1 lead. The Lady Rangers looked to hand the Sportop Queens their 3rd straight one-goal loss but Jamie Ricklefs would score in the dying seconds to tie the game with Brynne Lambert picking up an assist on the goal. A three minute overtime would solve nothing as Thunder Bay and Kitchener skated to a 2-2 tie.

That evening, the schedule brought another tough opponent in the London Devilettes (2-1-0). London opened the scoring 3:05 into the game but the Queens would tie it up late in the period as Molly Kunnas would again score, assisted by Lucy Newman.

The 1-1 draw held for most of the second period until the Devilettes popped in a late period goal to regain the lead. Goalie Aden Johnson would give Thunder Bay a chance to come back and Kunnas would figure in again, this time setting up Newman for the tying goal. Again, overtime yielded no more goals and again the Sportop Queens would settle for a 2-2 tie.

The schedule was definitely a tough draw for the Queens as they faced the top 4 teams in their division while evading the pair of 0-4-0 teams within the same division. So while their record may not be sparkling, the end-result is surely very valuable and an encouraging sign of what’s to come.

The Queens will face the Eastman Selects (1-2-0) at 1:40PM Sunday.