Lady Wolves go for gold at Esso Cup

For the second straight year, the Sudbury Lady Wolves will return from the Esso Cup with medals in hand.

The local midget AA girls assured themselves no worse than a second-place finish at nationals in Red Deer (Alta.), blanking the Central Plains Capitals 3-0.

A pair of second-period power-play goals, with blue-liners Carley Olivier and Kailey Lapensee pulling the trigger, along with a 23-save performance from Danika Ranger, provided the Lady Wolves a measure of revenge, downing the only team that handed them a loss in round-robin play.

Tayler Murphy capped off the Sudbury scoring, draining an empty-net goal with 1:31 to play.

The Capitals outshot the Lady Wolves 23-19, but it wasn't enough to solve Ranger, as the North Bay native continued to shine, recognized as the top goaltender of the tournament at an awards ceremony earlier in the day.

Finishing round-robin play with six goals and five assists, Karli Shell repeated as the Esso Cup top forward, walking away with the same honour last April in Stoney Creek. Sudbury will face the winner of the Red Deer Chiefs today at 5:30 p.m.