A Gold medal for the Dryden Girls Under 15 Hockey team at a weekend Tournament in Kenora.
The Knights defeated the Northeast Eagles in the championship game.
Assistant Captain Kendall Orwald potted the game winner with about seven minutes left to play in the third period.
Here is a write-up from the tournament from Coach Derek Orwald:
The Dryden girls Bantam Knights travelled to Kenora for their first tournament of the year.
On Friday they played the first of three Manitoba teams.
After a slow start, the girls rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull out the tie. Captain Norah Meeks led the comeback completing the hat trick in the third, with about 7 minutes to play, and the girls tightened things up defensively to earn the tie.
Game 2 was against the La Brouquire Habs. The game was aggressive and fast paced with Norah Meeks again netting a pair and Sophie Koshel a single. The Knights led 3-1 after 2 but the Habs regrouped and pressed hard in the third with a good portion of the period being played in Dryden’s end. Goalie Savanah Henstridge stood tall and turned away all shots she faced for the game to stay 3-1. With her third period play Savanah earned the game star.
Saturday afternoon we played the K-Town Hotshots. This game was a tightly played defensive battle with neither team really giving much room but Sophie Koshel found the mesh to go ahead and that was all the Knights needed. Savannah made several key saves in the third including a big glove save with about 2 minutes to go and earned a shutout. Big shout out to Courtney Reimer who used her speed to shut down a speedy Kenora team to earn her MVP honours.
Game 4 was the undefeated Northeast Eagles, the girls knew this was the biggest test of the weekend. Both teams came out skating and it was the Eagles scoring in the 2nd and going into the break with the lead. Dryden came out hard and made a change with their lines that proved to get the Eagles on their heels. Captain Norah Meeks evened the game at 1 apiece and it ended in a tie giving us 2nd place overall and a chance to play the Eagles again for gold.
The girls knew what they had to do and they played their best game of the tournament in the gold medal game outplaying and outshooting the Eagles, but by no means was it one sided. With about 7 minutes to go in the 3rd, Assistant Captain Kendall Orwald managed to get a shot from the top of the circle to go in and that’s all the Knights needed to secure the gold.
The effort and improvements made by the whole team was really great to watch, it was a team effort from start to finish. Honourable mention to the Pee Wee girls Sophie Koshel and Phoenix Delorme, who stepped up in a big way to assist our short roster, looking like they belonged every shift.
