Otters overcome Eagles in tourney final

The Pikangikum Screaming Otters pounded the Lac Seul Eagles 7-1 in the final of the 2010 Northern First Nations Hockey Tournament in what was widely called a huge upset.
But those close to the Otters hardly thought so.
Screaming Otters head coach Alex Peters was confident in his team’s chances before the team even left Pikangikum for the March 15-20 tournament in Sioux Lookout.
“We played our very first game of the tournament Monday morning at 7 a.m. and my boys wanted to close it off by playing in the last game of the tournament,” Peters said. “We were ready to win right from day one.”
The tournament took on a special tone for the Otters who were playing for Peters’ mother, who died just days before they hit the ice.
“Our family told us to go ahead and keep playing because she always came to support the team and to support the youth of Pikangikum,” Peters said. “She was a great supporter of our young people so we wore black and white ribbons on our red jerseys for her.”
Otters captain Kyle Peters, said the death of his grandmother during the tournament made the week a very emotional ride.
“But it feels great to win, because we did it all for her,” he said.
The Otters opened the final with three quick goals to chase the Lac Seul netminder. The change hardly affected the outcome. After the first period, the Otters were up 4-0 and the crowd, mostly comprised of Lac Seul band members at the Memorial Arena, were silenced.
Other tournament action saw the Bushtown Jets and Hudson Bay Cree from Fort Severn play a spirited contest for the B-side crown.
The Hudson Bay Cree took an early 4-0 lead, but the Jets quickly tied it up in the second period with four unanswered goals.
The third period saw the scoring go back and forth between the two teams, but Fort Hope edged an 8-6 victory for the B-side championship title.
In the C-side championship game, the Obesahdekong Ice Dogs (Poplar Hill) defeated the Kasabonika Islanders 6-3 for the title.
The game was tied 3-3 until the last four minutes of the third, when the Ice Dogs netted three quick goals to secure a victory over the Islanders.
With files from Chris Kornacki