Both Yorkton and area girls’ hockey teams – the Yorkton Gardon Crushers and Parkland Lions – opened their respective playoff series’ up with wins, as the Crushers shelled Weyburn 7-1 in Theodore while the Lions mauled Moose Jaw 5-1 in Churchbridge.
Crushing Weyburn
The pressure of hosting the first-ever playoff game in team history did not seem to bother the Yorkton Gardon Crushers Sunday afternoon in Theodore as the Crushers scored seven times en route to a convincing 7-1 win over Weyburn Olympia Fitness to take a one-game-to-none series lead in their SSFHL Bantam ‘A’ first round playoff series.
Austen Dubreuil opened the scoring for the Crushers just over seven minutes into the contest via the power play before Taylor Halarewich made it 2-0 just passed the midway point of the first frame.
A pair of second period Yorkton power play goals - one each by Halarewich and Kaitlyn Sauser – made it a 4-0 game while Crusher captain extended the Crusher lead to five late in the second stanza with her first playoff goal.
Hayley Pompu would get Weyburn on the board early in the third period, but two quick Yorkton goals, one off the stick of Reauna Blight and the other off the stick of Dubreuil, made it a 7-1 final.
Yorkton net minder Haley Schrader picked up her first playoff win after registering 14 in the regular season while Taryn McKinney and Aaliyah McLean shared duties between the Weyburn pipes in the loss.
Following the win Crusher head coach Fred Schrader said that while he was happy with the 7-1 win, the complete game effort was just not there for his girls. “We started off a little slow and sluggish, but we got a few lucky bounces to get the goals our way.”
Schrader also said that the 7-1 win might be dangerous for his girls and that hopefully overconfidence won’t be their downfall next weekend during Game Two in Weyburn. “They’ll be coming out hungry and hopefully we don’t come out overconfident,” said Schrader. “We have to remember that it’s a brand new game, so we have to come out strong unlike today and get a few goals and go from there.”
Lions roar in Game One
The Crushers weren’t the only Yorkton and area female hockey team to find success in their first game of the playoffs.
The Parkland Lions, Yorkton and area’s midget ‘AA’ female hockey team, also picked up a convincing win in their midget ‘AA’ playoff debut, dropping the visiting Moose Jaw Mavericks 5-1 in Churchbridge to take a one-game-to-none series lead.
The Lions opened the scoring early in the first period when regular season leading scorer Jordan Holinaty put the puck past Moose Jaw goaltender Caitlyn Bilan for a 1-0 Lion lead 6:20 into the opening period.
Defenceman Chace Sperling – a first year bantam playing midget hockey – increased the Parkland lead not long after with her first of the playoffs after a seven goal, eight assist regular season.
Janna Keisig then equalled her regular season goal total with her first playoff marker to make it a 3-0 Parkland lead heading into the second period.
A pair of second period Lions goals - one each from McKenna Davis and Cassidy Entz – gave Parkland a 5-0 lead before a third period marker by Moose Jaw’s Tannis Carle with 4:55 left in the game broke the Taylor Nagy shutout bid and rounded out the scoring in a 5-1 Lion victory.
Nagy picked up the win turning aside 34-of-35 Maverick shots while Bilan shouldered the loss making 26 saves on 31 Parkland chances.
Next action
The Yorkton Gardon Crushers will be in Weyburn this coming Saturday for Game Two of their best-of-three SSFHL Bantam ‘A’ Division quarterfinal series while the Parkland Lions will be in Moose Jaw on Friday with the hopes of advancing to the SSFHL Midget ‘AA’ Division semi-finals with a win.
