Lac Seul continues domination at Little Bands

Lac Seul proved to be a powerhouse once again at this year’s Little Bands Native Youth Hockey Tournament in Sioux Lookout Feb. 14-20.
In four of five age divisions, Lac Seul claimed the A-side midget, bantam and atom championships as well as the C-side peewee championship.
While victory came easy for Lac Seul in the atom championship, beating Sachigo 14-6, victory was a bit harder to come by in both the bantam and midget championship games.
In a repeat of last year’s midget and bantam A-side finals, Lac Seul and Sandy Lake once again faced off. The result was more of the same as Lac Seul, who won both titles last year, repeated as champions this year.
In the bantam game, a third period mistake by Sandy Lake proved costly. Down 3-2, Sandy Lake was trying to tie the game with seven minutes to play. After a couple failed attempts to get into the Lac Seul zone, Sandy Lake regrouped in their own end. But an attempted pass up the middle of the ice was picked off by Lac Seul’s Brandon Stanley who then quickly fired a shot past goalie Walter Monias with just over six minutes to play.
Now down by two goals, Sandy Lake poured on the pressure only to be stonewalled by Lac Seul’s defense and goaltending the rest of the game.
The final tally was 4-2 as Lac Seul skated to victory. It was Lac Seul’s fifth bantam title since 2006. Sandy Lake won the bantam championship in 2009.
In midget action, it was also a close game. Trying to avenge an 11-1 blowout last year at the hands of Lac Seul, Sandy Lake put in a strong effort this year only to lose 5-4.
Lac Seul got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period. They would hold onto the lead for the rest of the game despite a strong surge by Sandy Lake to tie it up late in the game. Down 5-3 in the third period strong goaltending once again proved key to victory as Lac Seul’s Michael Bridgewater shut down Sandy Lake’s offense.
Sandy Lake was able to get one goal past Bridgewater to get within one, but with only eight seconds left it wasn’t enough.
It was the third time in a row Lac Seul ousted Sandy Lake in the A-side midget finals.
The seven-day tournament featured 35 teams in five divisions: novice (four-seven years old), atom (eight-10 years old), peewee (10-12 years old), bantam (13-15 years old) and midget (15-17 years old).