Mavericks Tame The Ice Cats
A flat start and a couple of bad knees added for some tense moments as the Moose Jaw Midget A Mavericks managed to score two goals in the third period to defeat the Wood River Ice Cats 4 – 2 in Saskatchewan Female Hockey League action on Thursday evening.
Against the winless Ice Cats the win looked like a sure thing on paper but the young team from Wood River managed to match the Mavericks for the first two periods.
Mavericks’ goaltender Sydnee Christmann makes a sprawling save
The game saw the Mavericks top snipers – Sidney Ellingson and Makayla Anderson - sitting out the contest with knee injuries.
The first period was a scoreless affair with the well disciplined Ice Cats being able to make some passing plays but they were unable to put the puck behind Mavericks goalie Sydnee Christmann.
The Mavericks likewise were stonewalled by Ice Cats goalie Emily Gross during the first period.
“I think we came out a little bit flat tonight in the first period and it showed,” Ellingson said in the post game interview.
The second period saw the Mavericks return to their scoring ways at the 17:58 mark when Brooklyn Nimegeers scored an unassisted goal.
The Ice Cats though responded with a power play goal at the 15:27 mark on a goal by Kayla Deobold assisted by Tyla Packet.
Mavericks goaltender Sydnee Christmann is beaten by the Ice Cats’ Kayla Deobold
The Mavericks regained the lead on the powerplay at the 7:28 mark.
Skating in on the right wing Nimegeers took a pass from Mattea May who put a precision pass across to Kaelyn Logan who lobbed it into the net.
The Ice Cats would score their second powerplay marker at 5:12 with McKenna Wilson assisted by Sommer Foley.
“We were able to pull it together for a really good third period,” Anderson said.
The third period saw the Mavericks charge down ice and score what would be the game winner at 19:50 mark.
Nimegeers would hit the crossbar on a shot which had Gross easily beaten but the rebound would go to Lindsay Daniel who would put it in the net.
Mavericks’ Ember DuSomme attempts to put a shot past Ice Cats goaltender Emily Gross
Nimegeers would add her hat trick goal unassisted when she picked the puck up from behind the net at 9:25 and successfully scored a wraparound goal.
Following the game head coach Mike Botterill passed on a post game interview deferring it to players Ellingson and Anderson as “they (the players) deserve some of the publicity” plus they had been in on the second intermission pep talk just as the Mavericks came out and dominated.
Asked about the team seemingly not standing stronger against the winless Ice Cats Ellingson said “our best scorers were sitting in the stands.”
Regarding who she thought who stood out and who was the best Mavericks player on the ice Ellingson said “the whole team. Everyone was, they all pitched in for the victory.”
Anderson attributed the flat start in the first period to the extended time since the Mavericks last played was pn January 11th.
“Yes I believe it ( 12 days since their last game). You could see it when we came out flat in the first period,” Anderson said.
Shots on goal were 48 – 18 in the Mavericks favour.
The Mavericks play the final game of the regular season tomorrow night (Friday) at 7 pm at the Red Knight Arena (15 Wing Moose Jaw) when they face the Southwest Cyclones. All fans are welcome and all games are free of charge to attend.