2010 Esso Cup

QUEENS DETHRONE NOTRE DAME IN STANDINGS

REGINA, Sask. – The Thunder Bay Queens of Ontario took their thrones at the top of the standings Wednesday by defeating Atlantic reps the Moncton Rockets 5-3 in the first matchup of the day, but their domination in the standings may be short lived.

The Notre Dame Hounds, representing the Western region, still have their fourth game to play later today and could easily knock the Queens back down a notch.

But for now, the Queens are sitting pretty in first place, thanks to a well-played game against the competitive Moncton Rockets. Michela Cava (Thunder Bay, Ont.) opened the scoring for the Queens at 7:03 in the first, by accepting a quick pass from Brittany Zuback (Thunder Bay, Ont.) and putting it into the top left corner of Moncton’s mesh.

Kaitlyn Quarrell (Thunder Bay, Ont.) followed suit,  by poking away at the goalie’s pads and slipping the puck over the goal line at 15:57, to put Thunder Bay up 2-0 going into the first intermission.

But the Moncton Rockets came out of their dressing rooms with new motivation, making the second an exciting period with plenty of action at both ends of the ice.

Although Zuback pocketed her second point of the game when she scored at 3:03 in the second, defenceman Katherine Richard (Dieppe, N.B.) came through for the Rockets by chipping the puck into Thunder Bay’s net while there was traffic out front to make it 3-1.

Kylie Cornell (Thunder Bay, Ont.) of the Queens scored Thunder Bay’s fourth goal on a power play at 14:15 in the period, but Janik Robichaud (Dieppe, N.B.) of the Rockets answered back just eight seconds later to make it 4-2 for the team from Ontario.

The Queens kept their cool going into the third, with Kaitlyn Tougas (Thunder Bay, Ont.) finalizing the victory with seven seconds left in the game.

Netminder Pascale Daigle (Moncton, N.B.), who stopped 21 shots total, was named Player of the Game for the Rockets. Goalie Amanda Makela (Thunder Bay, Ont.) was also impressive between the posts, making 37 saves for the Queens. Teammate Zuback was named Player of the Game for her contributions on the ice to Thunder Bay’s win.