Megan Van Beusekom-Sweerin earned the shutout as the Minnesota Whitecaps defeated the Thunder 4-0 Sunday in the tournament final.

Minnesota, representing the Western Women's Hockey League, scored two quick goals 45 seconds apart from Maggie Fisher and Megan McCarthy in the third period, ending the Thunder's comeback aspirations.

"We got a little too caught up in the momentum of the game and not enough into playing our game," said Brampton head coach Lori Loftus-Wright. "We kind of let Minnesota run away with the game and it was just hard playing catch up."

Van Beusekom-Sweerin was bombarded with shots throughout the game, but she stood her ground. She won the tournament's top goaltender award.

"My team played well in front of me," said Van Beusekom-Sweerin. "I was getting really tired coming down to the end of the game and so was our team but those two extra goals in the third took some pressure of us."

The underdog Thunder, representing the Canadian Women's Hockey League, defeated the Burlington Barracudas in the wild card game before beating the defending champion Montreal Stars in the semifinals.

Brampton captain Lori Dupuis said being the underdogs gave her team motivation to excel.

"Everyone was kind of against us and thought it was a joke we were here (in the finals)," said Dupuis. "But I knew we could have beaten Montreal and given another chance, we could beat Minnesota. I really don't think it was a 4-0 game but it just came out lopsided."

Minnesota jumped out to an early lead after Chelsey Brodt-Rosenthal flipped the puck just over the right side of Brampton goalie Laura Hosier just two minutes into the game.

Brampton had many scoring chances but it just wasn't their night as pucks went over the cross bar, off the post or right into the glove of Van Beusekom-Sweerin.

"She (Van Beusekom-Sweerin) played a great game," Dupuis said. "We had lots of great opportunities but sometimes you just don't get a bounce and that was the case today."

Minnesota's Jenny Potter, a member of the American Olympic team, made it 2-0 after stuffing the puck between Hosiers pads nine minutes into the second period.

Minnesota's Brooke White and Brampton's Bobbi Jo Slusar were named players of the game while Minnesota's Julie Chu claimed tournament MVP.

Dupuis and Brampton defenceman Molly Engstrom were named the tournaments top forward and defenceman respectively.

Canadian Olympic stars Gillian Apps and Jayna Hefford suited up for Brampton but were non-factors in the game.

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