OTTAWA – It was a heart-breaking setback for the Thunder Bay Sportop midget AA Queens Sunday as they fell 3-2 in double overtime to the North Bay Ice Boltz in the gold medal game of the midget AA division final at the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association provincial championships in Ottawa.
North Bay's Taylor Murphy scored the deciding goal in the second OT session to end the contest.
Samantha Strassburger and Kaley Tienhaara notched the markers for the Queens.
Jayde Turcotte suffered the setback in net for Thunder Bay, who were outshot 34-33 in the game.
This marked the fourth consecutive year the Queens had advanced to the provincial final in which they now have won twice, in 2010 and 2012, along with silver medals this year and 2011.
They had advanced to the title contest after defeating the Saugeen-Maitland Lightning 2-1 in semifinal action Sunday morning.
Scoring for Thunder Bay in that one were Michelle Carlson and Montana Russo, with the game-winner.
The OWHA champion Ice Boltz now advance to the Esso Cup Canadian national midget championship April 21-27 in Burnaby, B.C.
Thunder Bay Sportop Queens OWHA provincial championship results
Thursday, April 4
Sportop Queens 4 St. Catharines Chaos 1
Sportop Queens 2 Whitby Wolves 1
Friday, April 5
Sportop Queens 0 Markham-Stouffville Stars 0
Saturday, April 6
Sportop Queens 3 Sault Ste. Marie Wildcats 1 (Quarter-final)
Sunday, April 7
Sportop Queens 2 Saugeen-Maitland Lightning 1 (Semifinal)
North Bay Ice Boltz 3 Sportop Queens 2 (2OT) (Gold/Silver medal game)