THUNDER BAY – This weekend the Bantam AA Queens hosted Team Wisconsin U14 for a 3-game exhibition series.
In the first game, on Saturday afternoon, a scoreless draw through 20 minutes was broken when Queens forward Alexis Paddington scored early in the second period. Paddington would then setup up Gabby Andreacchi midway through the third to increase the lead. Goaltender Lindsay Humeniuk would do the rest of the heavy lifting shutting the door for the rest of the game giving Thunder Bay a 2-0 win and a 1-0 lead in the series.
In game two, that evening, Team Wisconsin would get their first goals of the series scoring two in the first period to jump to an early lead. Thunder Bay cut the lead to one on a goal by Emma Johnston but Wisconsin would match that to retain the 2-goal lead. In the final frame, Paddington potted a pair of goals but it wouldn’t be enough as Wisconsin would get one too, earning their first win of the series with a score of 4-3 and tying up the series at one apiece.
In the final game, the “rubber match”, on Sunday morning, it would be the Queens this time drawing first blood as Andreacchi opened the scoring late in the first. Team Wisconsin would not go away easily though scoring the only goal of the second, and then scoring again late in the third to take a 2-1 lead in the game and threatening to take a 2-1 series win. But with just over 2-minutes left, Andreacchi would score her second of the game tying it up. These two evenly matched teams would skate to a 2-2 draw and twin 1-1-1 records.
Bantam AA Queens Manager echoed the sentiments of others saying it was a “really great series”. Certainly, the teams were excellent competition for each other. We wish Team Wisconsin U14 safe travels home.
