Having finished seventh in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League regular season standings with a 7-21-0 record, the Battlefords Sharks knew they would have a tough opponent in the quarter-final round.
When they kick off their best-of-five series Monday evening at the Art Hauser Centre, they will be going head to head with the defending league champion Prince Albert Bears, who finished second in the league table with a 22-5-1 record.
“We’ve been looking forward to the challenge of playing those top teams and we are ready for it,” Sharks head coach Gary Berggren said. “We’ve had a couple of weeks off to regroup and get ready for the Bears.
“If we want to have a chance of pulling off an upset, we’ll need to have a full work ethic in every game and our special teams will need to be better than Prince Albert’s.”
Following Monday's opener, the Sharks will play host to the Bears Wednesday in a 6 p.m. clash at the Battleford Arena.
The third game will be held in Prince Albert Friday while a fourth contest, if needed, would take place in Battleford at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night.
A fifth and deciding game, if required, would be held in Prince Albert Monday.
The Sharks are enterning the playoff on a three game losing streak, as they dropped a 7-3 decision on the road to the Saskatoon Stars on Feb. 8 and then lost 4-3 and 4-0 affairs to the Swift Current Wildcats on home ice on Feb. 10 and 11.
“We played well at times against Swift Current but we didn’t play well over the course of a full 60 minutes,” Berggren said. “We really struggled on offence as we didn’t bury our chances when we had them.
“It was a bit of a step back for us against Saskatoon as we played really well in that game. To tell you the truth, it really came down to two minutes against Saskatoon, as we were able to cut the lead down to a goal and then they went out and scored in back to back shifts.”
Cassidy Carlson had a goal and an assist in the loss to the Stars, with Ensley Fendelet and Keera Tiringer also scoring.
Chloe Burt was busy in net in that game as she made 38 saves.
Fendelet and Lexxa Poitraz both had a goal and assist in the Sharks’ 4-3 setback to the Wildcats, which also saw Celena Kissick find the back of the net.
Haylie Biever turned aside 26 shots for the Sharks in Saturday’s loss to Swift Current, while Burt made 35 saves during Sunday’s rematch.
In between the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs, three members of the Sharks roster came away with medals from the Saskatchewan Winter Games over the weekend.
Logan Halter won a gold medal at the Battleford Arena Saturday as her Prairie Central team picked up a 3-1 win over South East.
Meanwhile, Madison Glynn and Kalli Hiebert won bronze medals for Saskatoon following a 2-1 triumph over Regina.
