Photo courtesy Becky Booth
The Fort Frances U13 AA Canadians are northwestern Ontario hockey champions.
They defeated the Westfort Rangers 4-2 in the final at the Tournament of Champions in Thunder Bay.
The Canadians 13 AA hockey team A pair of championships for the Fort Frances Canadians AA hockey program.
Aiden Moen scored twice in the first period to give the Canadians a 2-0 lead in the first period.
The first came with three minutes remaining, a wrist shot from about ten feet out to beat the Rangers’ netminder.
The second came two minutes later on a tip in front of Westfort’s net after a Ben Latter shot from the point.
The Rangers cut the Canadians’ lead to one early in the second period.
The Canadians restored their two-goal lead with about five minutes remaining on a goal by Troy Velhuisen.
Westfort drew to within one in the third, scoring with the two-man advantage with five minutes left.
The Rangers pulled their netminder with over a minute remaining, but the Canadians sealed the victory with Mark Fitzgerald putting it into the empty net just before time expired.
Netminder Declan Scott was named MVP for the Canadians.
The Canadians finished the tournament with six wins and a shootout loss.
They opened the tournament with a 1-0 shootout win over the Norwest Stars on Thursday.
On Friday, the Canadians lost to the Rangers, 4-3 in overtime in a morning game before bouncing back that night for a 6-1 win over the Current River Comets.
A 6-1 win over the Dryden Paperkings Saturday morning helped push the Canadians into the playoff round, where they dumped the Neebing Hawks 4-1.
The Canadians U11 team also played for a championship, losing 5-2 in the final to the Neebing Hawks.
After a scoreless first period, Neebing opened the scoring with less than 6 minutes remaining in the second.
Westyn Degagne evened the score a minute later for the Canadians.
A late goal on the power play gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
Neebing scored three straight goals to open the final frame before the Canadians countered midway through the period on a goal by Brody Calder.
The Hawks sealed the victory with a goal with one minute left in the period.
Degagne was named the game’s MVP for the Canadians.
It was the only loss the Canadians suffered in the tournament.
They won four straight in the round-robin portion, 4-2 over the West End Bruins on Thursday, 3-0 over the Hawks and 4-1 over the Elks 82s on Friday, finishing with a 5-0 win over the Norwest Stars on Saturday morning.
The Canadians advanced to the final with a convincing 8-2 win over the Westfort Rangers in the U11 semi-finals.
The Canadians U18 team ended their season, dropping all four games played in their division.
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