Mavericks Dominate Wings For Shutout Win
Robert Thomas
Saturday’s rematch saw the Moose Jaw Bantam Mavericks defeat the Weyburn Creekside Carwash Wings 5 to 0 in an offensively lopsided affair. The Mavericks managed 60 shots on Weyburn with the Wings responding only with 8 shots of their own.
The first period saw the Mavericks in early penalty troubles, as aggressive play while killing off an initial penalty, led to a 5 on 3 advantage for the Wings. For close to a minute the Wings could not find the mark only managing one shot on net.
After aggressively fighting off the 5 on 3 disadvantage, the Mavericks Kaitlyn Gilroy managed to score, unassisted at 15:22.
Taylor Luciak was assisted by Kearra Merriman and Tia Miller with traffic around the Wings net to make it a 2 to 0 game at the 6:32.
The rest of the first period saw the Mavericks continue to force play on the Wings centre of the rink.
The second period saw a bit of life for the Wings but it was snuffed out at 17:22 when Macy Cugnet took a tripping penalty along the right wing boards adjacent the face off circle. Any spark the Wings had seemed to die after this.
A key save at 16:49 by Wings’ goalie Kara Zelyck on Sidney Ellingson temporarily reignited the Wings penalty kill as they cleared the zone.
But at 15:25, the Mavericks scored their third goal, on the power play, when the Wings failed to clear the zone. A wrist shot by Mattea May from the top of the slot through some traffic just trickled between Zelyck’s pads who initially looked like she had it. The assist going to Ember DuSomme.
A slash in the Wings end by Presleigh Runge saw the Mavericks again on the power play. The Wings successfully killed it off as Zelyck, despite having a touch of the flu made a couple more good saves.
At 7:05, an interference call put the Mavericks on the penalty kill. But aggressive forechecking kept the puck mainly in the Wings zone. Weyburn managed only one shot which hit the side of the net.
At 2:48, the Wings found themselves in penalty troubles as the Mavericks had a 5 on 3 advantage. Despite controlling the play the Mavericks only managed one decent shot on goal which the Weyburn net-minder, Zelyck, made a stellar save against the Maverick’s Ellingson.
Ellingson had four more great shots on goal during the second period but each time Zelyck robbed her.
At the 19:36 mark of the third period, hard work in the Wings end paid off and saw the Mavericks go ahead 4 to 0. A shot in close by Gilroy along the ice found the back of the net. Assisted by Ellingson.
Weyburn pressed at the 17:30 mark but only managed a sharp angled shot which Maverick’s goalie Sydnee Christman easily stopped.
A fifth Maverick goal happened at 16:22, as Taylor Luciak skated behind the net, passed out to Miller, who passed to a wide open Gilroy, who easily scored and collected herself the hat trick.
A miscue by the Wings on the Maverick’s blue line at the 9:30 mark gave the Mavericks’ Gilroy a breakaway opportunity with Zelyck again coming up big on the shot and subsequent rebound.
Gilroy was again robbed at the 6:32 mark as she had Zelyck beaten only to hit the post. With the Weyburn net-minder covering up a puck behind her in the crease.
With 3:15 left in the game Weyburn once again found itself short handed. But an improved Wings penalty kill allowed only one good Moose Jaw opportunity which Zelyck easily handled.
A passing play with 19 seconds left from Gilroy to Ellingson resulted in a great glove save by Zelyck preventing a sure goal.
“We put in a great effort and played really hard,” said Maverick’s head coach Stephane Gauvin.
Everything seemed to be in the Maverick’s favour and the game was smooth flowing and not as chippy as Friday night’s game had been, Gauvin said.
Despite dominating the second game, Gauvin said the Mavericks cannot be over-confident heading into the final two games and before the playoffs.
“We just have to play our game. This is a league where you can run into a hot goalie and anybody can win. You can't afford to take anybody lightly,” he said.
At the end of the game the green helmet – awarded to the outstanding Maverick player – went to Mattea May who was injured by a slap shot to the ankle.
Coach Gauvin said it wasn't easy selecting the Maverick’s outstanding player but said May was a player “who does all of the little things game in and game out which add up.”
The next game for the Mavericks is Thursday night.