Sioux Lookout wins Rainy River men’s hockey tournament

Ken Johnston

The Sioux Lookout Royals may have been tired and short on bench but that did not stop them from winning the annual Rainy River Men’s Early Bird Hockey Tournament Sunday.
Having just finished playing, the Royals took to the ice against Kenora short one player. Josh Anderson was injured in an earlier game, having been cut in the face by a skate.
Playing with just two extra men, the team came out shooting. 1:03 into the first period they scored their first goal. 2:30 in they added another one. They had had only three shots but scored on two of them.
Kenora did not answer back until the 9:45 mark but that did not deter the Royals. They plugged another one between the pipes at 14:48 to lead 3-1 at the end of the period. However they were outshot 7-5.
In the second period the Royals added to their lead scoring three goals in the first ten minutes of play. Anderson also rejoined the team and made some key plays to bolster the team’s chances for the championship.
Kenora scored their second goal with 3:47 left in the period but it was still 6-2 for the Royals who outshot Kenora 14-11.
In the third period Kenora ratcheted things up a notch scoring two goals at the 7:56 and 9:24 mark to make it 6-4. Since they were within two goals the last five minutes of the game were stop-time. Then the Royals scored at the 10:54 mark and sent the clock running at straight-time again. But Kenora was not ready to give up. They scored their fifth goal at 11:58 to stop the clock. They also pulled their goalie and hoped a face-off in the Royal’s end zone would let them score again. However, strong defense by the Royals saw them score an empty netter and clinch the game. They also added another one with only seconds left. Final score was 9-5 for the Royals.
Final shots on goal were 29 for Kenora and 28 for the Royals.