The Prince Albert Northern Bears started their weekend on the right foot with a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Avros in the Female World Sport School Challenge at the Hockey For All Center in Winnipeg on Thursday afternoon.
Bears coach Steve Young says he was pleased with how Prince Albert started the first period.
“I thought we came out with a jump. I thought the girls were excited and worked hard in the game. They kept it steady for the whole game, so give them credit. We're trying to work on a few things here. These games are important in a way that helps us reduce the tension here in our league.”
After a scoreless first period, Ella Clarke opened the scoring near the halfway point of the second period. Brie Purcell picked up the lone assistant.
Zayda Summach would double the lead for Prince Albert two seconds into the middle frame, scoring her first goal of the tournament with four seconds left. Purcell picked up her second
Winnipeg would pull within one with 15:37 to go in the third period when Mackenzie Lizotte scored her first goal of the tournament. Rio Pierre had the lone assist.
Mikiya Anderson ices the win for the Bears with an empty netter with one second left
Annika Neufeldt stood tall in the crease for Prince Albert making 40 saves on 41 shots. Maddy Silvestre made 26 stops on 28 shots for the Avros.
“The biggest thing we've been emphasizing with our goalies right now (is) giving us a chance to be in the game and a chance to win, and that's what Annika did. I thought she made some key saves at the right time and the girls helped her as well.”
Caption: SAHA takes down Bears in Friday morning tilt
The Northern Bears were unable to continue their winning streak as they lost 6-1 on Friday morning to the Medicine Hat-based Southern Alberta Hockey Academy (SAHA)
Young says he thought the final score was not indicative of how the game was played.
“I thought for the most part it was a tough back-and-forth game. Looking at the score sheet in the third period, we had a few minutes there where we let them put some pucks in the net. Other than that, it was a tough game on both counts. A kind of game once again, we needed. We have to learn from (this), the biggest thing is that you can't have those mistakes because those mistakes cost us up to two, three, four goals.”
Keira Grant would start the scoring for SAHA with 4:36 to go in the first period on the power play. Keyana Bart provided the lone assist.
Just over three minutes later, Maddison Andrew doubled the SAHA lead with her first goal of the tournament. Kenzie Carson was credited with the assist.
Shots favored SAHA 12-11 after the first period.
Prince Albert's Addison Davidge would cut the SAHA lead to just one with 13:38 left in the second period. Tristin Endicott picked up the lone assistant.
Kenzie Carson would restore the two-goal advantage for SAHA with 7:37 remaining in the middle frame, picking up her second point of the contest with a goal. Brianna Finke and Maddison Andrew assisted on the game.
In the third period, SAHA would strike three times in a minute as goals by Keira Grant, Riley Gramlich and Keyana Bert would put the game away from Prince Albert.
Nikita Krayetski stopped 28 of 34 shots for the Bears while Tayler Cohen made 29 saves on 30 shots for SAHA.
Young says the third period was a microcosm of what Prince Albert hopes to prevent in future games.
“We want consistency … It was a good game of hockey and then we lost our consistency and they put some backs in the net. We want to be consistent, we want to play hard, we want to set the pace. Little things like that that we're not constantly on our heels.”
The Bears returned to action at 4:45 p.m. on Friday against the Yellowhead Chiefs. Results were not available as of press time.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
