With the Sudbury Hite Intermediate Lightning showing the way, local entries to the Ice Breaker Cup in Sault Ste Marie earlier this month celebrated in style, with no less than three Sudbury District Girls Hockey League teams returning with championship banners.
For the Lightning crew, this would mark a second consecutive successful trek to the Sault, defending their 2015 triumph by earning a measure of revenge against the Sault FHA Pisa Pizza Intermediates.
The host team claimed a 5-3 victory on Friday in round robin play, but when the rivals met again on Sunday, with the hardware on the line, overtime and then some would be needed, with the clubs tied at two at the end of regulation time.
No scoring in the five minute fourth period, meant that a shootout would be required to settle this tension-filled drama. Nathalie Labelle, the very first shooter for the Lightning, found the mark, the only one of six shooters to solve the respective netminders, giving Hite a 3-2 win.
The Hite Lightning lineup includes Josee Wahamaa, Kayla Lauria, Alexie Lavoie, Jazmine Ayotte, Shaniah Linkletter, Breanna Janakowski, Kylie Pretty, Katrina Maier, Byranna Orsino, Dominique Rivet, Lindsey Castonguay, Natalie Labelle, Hailey Lively, Jess Boucher and goaltenders Danielle Cyr and Danika Roy.
Also capturing their division in Sault Ste Marie were the Sudbury Bantam Hawks and the Sudbury Atom Black Cats. Many of the teams which participated in the Soo will be on hand, in Sudbury, on the weekend of December 9th to the 11th, as more than sixty squads have entered the 2016 Snowflake Challenge.
