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Give those Hawks a hand

Pembina Valley squad wins national midget crown

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 04/29/2012 1:42 PM | Comments: 0

Teammates mob Pembina Valley Hawks goalie Brittini Mowat after the club downed Thunder Bay 4-2 in Charlottetown to win their first Canadian National Female Midget Championship. (HOCKEY CANADA PHOTO)

Pembina Valley 4

vs. Thunder Bay 2

First Period

1. Pembina Valley, Kaminsky (Hutchinson, Keen) 9:56

Penalty — Tienhaara TB (slashing) 4:31.

Second Period

2. Thunder Bay, Tougas (Bolduc) 1:19

3. Pembina Valley, Carels (Kaminsky, Keen) 6:26 (pp)

4. Pembina Valley, Carels (Drummond) 10:17

5. Pembina Valley, Keen (Carels, Hutchinson) 18:41 (pp)

Penalties — Cava TB (hooking) 6:18, Ahola TB (hooking) 12:14, Dearsley PV (hooking) 15:22, Nicholl, TB (bodychecking) 18:20.

Third Period

6. Thunder Bay, Cava (Tougas, Bolduc) 8:38

Shots on goal by

Pembina Valley 4 9 6 —19

Thunder Bay 12 10 15 —37

Goal — Pembina Valley: Mowat; Thunder Bay: Leikkari.

Enlarge Image

Hawks players show off their hardware Saturday afternoon. (HOCKEY CANADA PHOTO)

CHARLOTTETOWN — Call them the Golden Hawks.

Manitoba’s Pembina Valley Hawks soared to new heights Saturday, claiming their first Canadian National Female Midget Championship by downing the Thunder Bay Queens in the Esso Cup final.

Cassidy Carels of Bruxelles and Lauryn Keen of Manitou had three points apiece for the Western representative Hawks, who hoisted the cup after a 4-2 victory over the Ontario reps at the CARI Complex in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Jessica Kaminsky of La Salle opened the scoring midway through the first, weaving behind the Thunder Bay defence and deking goalie Megan Leikkari to put the Hawks up 1-0.

The rest of the first frame belonged to the Queens, who buzzed the PV net but could not thwart the tournament’s top netminder, Brittini Mowat of Glenboro. Thunder Bay, the 2010 Esso Cup champs, outshot Pembina Valley 12-4 in the first 20 minutes.

The Queens squared the game early in the second when 2010 cup MVP Kaitlyn Tougas banged a puck past Mowat to make it 1-1. The Hawks reclaimed the lead on a power play five minutes later, when Kaminsky feathered a cross-ice feed to Carels, who converted from the top of the crease. Carels notched her second four minutes later, thanks to some physical play by Brooke Drummond of Holland. Drummond muscled Jessica Gazzola off the puck at the Queens’ blue-line, Carels swooped in to corral the loose disk and sneaked a shot through Leikkari.

Keen scored on a power play at 18:41 to make it 4-1. Carels and Madison Hutchinson picked up helpers on the play.

The Queens came storming out to start the third and pulled within a pair when tournament MVP Michela Cava ripped a shot past Mowat at 8:38, but the Hawks goalie was brilliant coming home. Thunder Bay attacked in waves for the last 10 minutes but Mowat, who finished with 35 saves, was rock-solid.

The Edmonton Thunder defeated Metro Boston Pizza of Halifax 4-1 to claim the bronze.

— staff

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