The Thunder Bay Sportop Queens have finished off round robin play at the Esso Cup Canadian National Female Midget Hockey Championship in Charlottetown, P.E.I. in top spot with a perfect 5-0 record.
They wrapped up first place Thursday following a narrow 5-4 victory over the previously unbeaten Pembina Valley Hawks of Manitoba.
The see-saw affair saw each side hold the lead at various points throughout the contest.
After Brooke Drummond put Pembina Valley on top with a power play goal 11:49 into the contest, Kaitlyn Tougas tied it four minutes later to send the two sides to the dressing room knotted at 1-1.
Farrah Nicholl then tallied twice in the middle frame to put Thunder Bay up a pair only to see the Hawks respond with late efforts from Jessica Kaminsky and Lauryn Keen to make it 3-3 after 40 minutes.
A quick start to the third saw Drue Ahola give the Queens the lead once again at the 1:56 mark of the final session while Jillian Langtry’s fifth of the tournament proved to be the game-winner with 8:33 remaining.
Keen’s second of the game pulled Pembina Valley to within one, but that’s as close as they would get as time expired.
Thunder Bay outshot their opponents 36-21 in the contest with Megan Leikkari picking up the win turning aside four of five attempts she faced in one period of work. Jayde Turcotte played goal the first two stanzas stopping 13 of 16.
Kristen Hunt suffered the loss in net for the Hawks.
The Queens will now take on fourth place Halifax Metro Boston Pizza in one semifinal Friday at either 1 or 5 p.m. ET.
Pembina Valley will meet the Edmonton Thunder in the other semifinal.
The winners will meet for gold and silver Saturday at 4 p.m. while the other two sides will battle for bronze at 12 p.m. ET.
