The Lakeland Midget Jaguars capped off a perfect weekend with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Grande Prairie Knights on Sunday afternoon to capture the gold medal in their home tournament.
“It was an exciting tournament for the girls. We worked hard and played four really good games,” said Jaguars head coach Shawn Coles. “We have been improving all year. We were good defensively and our goaltending was great.”
Shaunessey Hunter scored the opening goal of the game early in the first period to give the Lakeland squad the lead.
Both teams were on their games defensively as the lone goal held up until late in the third period.
Grande Prairie's assistant captain Liz Auger tied the game up with less than five minutes into the third frame, setting the game up for quite the finish.
“That made us nervous. We were thinking about what the overtime format was for the tournament and discussed our last minute strategy,” said Coles. “But when teams come back on us we always seem to find a goal late.”
That is exactly what happened on this occasion as Paige Leader found the back of the net to give the Jaguars the 2-1 lead with just minutes remaining on the clock.
The Lakeland team held on for the championship victory, and finished the tournament having won all four games they played.
Six teams from as far away as Yellowknife traveled to Bonnyville on the weekend to participate in the Lakeland Jaguars Invitational.
The Jaguars came away with wins against Fort Saskatchewan, Beaver Lodge and two wins over Grande Prairie.
