Polar Bear Midgets Take Second Place in Regional Hockey Tournament

SUPERIOR, WI - Wednesday, January 07, 2009 - Fourteen High School-Aged hockey teams from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario met this weekend in Superior, Wisconsin for the “Colder by the Lake ” Junior Gold Hockey Tournament.

The Ironwood Plastics sponsored boys ran their bracket, winning 5-2 against Centennial, a team from the Twin Cities area and 6-0 against a the Ft. Williams Canadiens from Thunder Bay, Ontario. On Sunday, the Polar Bears defeated the Westfort Rangers, another Ontario based team, 5-2. Several hours later the boys faced off against the Kurian Construction team of Marquette, Michigan.

Marquette slid the first goal past the Polar Bear Goal Tender, Cody Cunico, in the first 90 seconds of play. The Polar Bears bounced back exactly two minutes later when Tony Giackino swept the puck past the Canadian Netminder on a perfect pass from Ian Findlay. Winding down the first period, Marquette scored two more goals in quick succession. In the second period, Marquette tallied one more goal, but the Polar Bears sparked hope when the Canadian goal-tender was caught off balance with some great passing in front of the net. Cody Kurta and Kyle Anderson each contributed to Nathan Makinen ‘s goal brought the score to a more manageable 4-2 early in the third period. With the hopes of victory passing by the second,

Coach Jeff Wasley directed his skaters to press on offense during a late power play opportunity. Pinching in tight, the puck took an unfortunate bounce out of the offensive zone and allowed Marquette to capitalize on a short-handed scoring change. Final score was 5-2 and the Polar Bears captured second place in the tournament.