Yorkton Minor Hockey’s only official all-girl team, the Yorkton Gardon Crushers, made the nearly two hour trip to Regina this past weekend to take part in the Female Hockey Challenge tournament, returning home with silver medals after a tough 1-0 loss to the Regina Cougars in the tournament finale.
“We played hard in the final game but we just ran into a good goalie,” said Crushers head coach Fred Schrader after the game. “Both teams had chances, both had opportunities to score, but we just came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 game.
“Sometimes that’s just the way the puck bounces.”
The team - comprised of girls from Yorkton and the surrounding area –struggled early on in the tournament, needing a late goal by captain Taylor Halarewich to force a 1-1 tie with Weyburn Olympia Fitness before finding their offensive game in games two and three of the competition, first downing the Regina Blues 5-0 with goals by Sierra Meroniuk, Lexi Fenske, Shaelyn Myers, Reauna Blight and Mia Chretien, before Fenske, Myers and Chretien found the net for the second straight game, dropping the Saskatoon Comet Snipers 3-1 to set up a semi-finals rematch against Weyburn, who also went 2-0-1 in round-robin play.
This time the Crushers were ready for Weyburn as seven different players scored for Yorkton in a 7-0 shutout victory that propelled them to the final where they would ultimately fall 1-0 to the undefeated Regina Cougars. “I’m not disappointed that we lost the final game,” offered Schrader, adding that he was happy with his girls’ performances throughout the weekend; especially on the defensive side of things. “We have a great defensive team and that showed in this tournament; when you give up just three goals in five games, that’s pretty good.”
Schrader went on to say that the tournament was a coming out party of sorts for a few of his players, noting that players such as Sara Auchstaetter and Breanne Brenner had strong tournaments and seemed to finally be adjusting to the bantam level. “Those girls had some good games this weekend, and it’s nice to see that they’re starting to get comfortable at this level,” mentioned the Gardon Crusher head coach, continuing, “Sometimes it’s tough for a girl to get used to being in a more serious role rushing the puck and being a leader on the ice when they’re used to playing a supporting role on a boys’ team.”
The next action for the Yorkton Gardon Crushers (7-2-1) will be of the South Sask Female Hockey League bantam ‘A’ variety as they host the Regina Blues (5-6-0) for a pair of games this weekend in Theodore. Game One will be on Saturday at 4:00p.m. with Game Two Sunday at noon.
