Mavericks Extinguish The Fire

There is the old adage that practice makes perfect. Although it is a goal seen as unattainable for some on Sunday afternoon the Moose Jaw Bantam A Mavericks came close to obtaining it when they shutout the Parkland Flames 3 - 0 in the third game of the best of three Southern Division Finals in Saskatchewan Female Hockey League action.

The first period started with a more aggressive and confident Mavericks who seemed to douse the Fire squad by tying them up in the neutral zone. Time and again the visitors could not get anything going as the Mavericks played an aggressive style of hockey in both fore and back checking.

The Mavericks would finally see themselves penalized for body checking as they just tilted over the razors edge of perfection. Jesse Mielke would come out flying and just a split second of over aggressive play led to the penalty in the center ice area at 6:10 of the first period.

In the ensuing penalty kill first year bantam level player Eowyn Stokes would aggressively fore check in the Fire’s end of the ice and just missed putting it into a wide opening behind Fire goaltender Marieve Elliot.

The first period would end scoreless.

The Fire’s goaltender had to put up with Mavericks on her doorstep on numerous occasions

The Mavericks aggressive style of play would once again tilt past the razor’s edge when Stokes would be in on the forecheck in the Fire’s zone and would get the minor penalty.

In the ensuing penalty kill Jasmine Kohl would step up and steal the puck and eat up valuable time in the penalty preventing the Fire from scoring at the 16:43 of the second period.

Then at the 12:16 mark Ember DuSomme would open the scoring for the Mavericks on a power play goal assisted by Mattea May. The goal came in close against the Fire with DuSomme having three Fire players just behind her on Parkland’s door step.

The Fire would again have the opportunity on a third body checking penalty assessed against the Mavericks but Kohl would skate out and stop a shot from the blue line eliminating any pressure the Fire was applying.

The remainder of the second period highlights were ones of where goaltender Brooke Archer was stellar stopping three key shots to preserve the shutout. At the 3:09 she would stop a shot through traffic by the Fire’s Callie Metzger.

With the period winding down Archer stopped a wristhand shot by the Fire’s Taiya Sauser with 6.1 seconds left in the second period. Within seconds at the 2 second mark Archer made an almost impossible stop on a deflected slapshot that came through traffic.

The third period was one which everything seemed to go the Mavericks way as time and time again they frustrated any efforts by the Fire to get out of their zone just inside the visitor’s blue line.

At the 12:11 mark Nikita Halyk would take a massive shot from the right point beating Elliott only to be robbed by ringing the inside of the goal post.

With the Mavericks shorthanded for the fourth time DuSomme at the 10:30 mark would steal the puck from the Fire in their zone and almost get in on a breakaway.

The Mavericks pursuing int the opponent’s end on the penalty kill would however finally pay off when they would score their second goal at the 10:02 mark. After putting the puck off of the boards Kohl would score skating in low on the short side.

Within minutes though the Fire would come close after stealing the puck at the 7:53 mark Archer would make another great save on wrist shot on Cadence Campeau who was 10 feet in front of the Mavericks goal.

With just over a minute left in the third period Parkland would pull their goaltender for the extra attacker and in a disciplined passing play Kohl would put the puck into the empty net at the 2 second mark assisted by Stokes and Mattea May.

Asked what he thought about the game Mavericks head coach Stephane Gauvin said “I am really proud of the girls they put in a great effort “

“They were very strong in the first period, in the second good and very good in the third. once again.”

Asked about how the team came out on fire Gauvin said the team came out ready to play and the aggressive style of hockey was part of the high tempo style of hockey team played.

During the second intermission Gauvin said he had spoken to the team about it and he was “very happy how they adjusted…we played a great game.”

Asked about everything seemed to go the Mavericks way with time and again passes made off of skates, the Fire unable to get out of their end of the rink and the Mavericks able to get in close to the Fire’s net for opportunities and rebounds not seen in game one of the series Gauvin said they had worked on key things at their practice.

“We tried to successfully crowd the net and pounding away at rebounds,” he said, adding it paid off as evidenced in the Mavericks second goal.

“It gave us some good scoring chances.”

The entire team’s effort and hard work paid off in the number of turnovers the Mavericks had on the Fire, the smart heads up passing plays and a game which was well played and went according to the game plan.

“We tried to keep the puck deep and they couldn’t get any momentum going,” he said about the Fire being stopped on numerous occasions just inside their blue line.

About the play of goaltender Archer, who arguably played her best game of the entire playoffs and the great saves she made in the dying seconds she made of the second period Gauvin said “she baled us out when you needed her to.”

Shots on goal for the game were 23 to 22 in favour of Parkland.

The Mavericks now face the Northwest Sharks, who play out of Turtleford, in a re-,match of the provincial final. At press time a game schedule had not been finalized.