And, so it begins, another year of bike building in the AtomicZombie garage! This year, the deep freeze actually left us a month ahead of schedule, so I am heading out to tackle last year’s mess. You see, we are constantly fighting against the clock, as the weather can drop to minus 20 in a few days without warning. 
This is the second year the Esso Cup has been awarded to the midget division. With the Queens‘ win, they join their local counterparts in the Thunder Bay Kings boys program and become the first community in Canadian history to win a national midget championship in both the female and male age groups.
| Notre Dame Hounds 3 - Thunder Bay Queens 4 | |||
Just in from HockeyCanada.com:  REGINA, Sask. – They are this year’s royalty of female midget hockey. Kaitlyn Tougas (Thunder Bay, Ont.) contributed half of the goals for the Queens, tying up the game at one apiece with a beautiful goal at 14:47 in the first period. She displayed some slick stick handling skills, putting it through the legs of a Notre Dame defenceman before deking out netminder Tamber Tisdale (Red Deer, Alta.). The back-and-forth action continued throughout the game, with fans on both sides of the stands trying to outdo each other with enthusiastic cheers that filled the rink. Notre Dame reclaimed the lead early in the second, when Brienna Gillanders (Kyle, Sask.) scored on a power play with help from Olivia Howe (Moose Jaw, Sask.) and Woods. The Hounds continued to put the offensive pressure on, with Brittany Berisoff (Kelowna, B.C.) making it 3-1 on another power play at 11:25 in the second. But penalties started to hurt rather than help Notre Dame, with the next power play marker going to Courtney Tougas (Thunder Bay, Ont.) of the Queens. Another second period power play evened up the score, with Michela Cava (Thunder Bay, Ont.) making it 3-3 before the intermission. And while it looked like the evenly matched game may head into overtime, the Tougas girls came through on another power play, combining for the game winning goal with an assist going to Kaitlyn Quarrell (Thunder Bay, Ont.). That resulted in chants of “Let’s go Queens” from spectators, with Notre Dame fans answering back with “Let’s go Hounds” in an attempt to push their favourite teams forward. But in the end, the game belonged to the Thunder Bay Queens, who laid claim to their first National Female Midget Championship title.  Crystal Duhaime (Geraldton, Ont.) was named Player of the Game for Notre Dame, while Kaitlyn Tougas received the same honour for winning team Thunder Bay. The Olympic theme song “I Believe,” reflecting the motto of the Thunder Bay Queens, filtered from the winning team’s dressing room after the game. Cheers, Kathy McGowan (KoolKat) Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines www.atomiczombie.com Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/zombie_atomic Frequently Asked Questions: http://atomiczombie.com/plansfaq.html Atomic Zombie proudly supports Thunder Bay Queens women’s hockey organization. Congratulations on winning the gold medal in the Esso Cup, their first National Female Midget Championship title. | |||
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