The Estevan Power Tech Bear Cats had the briefest of leads Saturday in their second game of a series with the Moose Jaw Mavericks.
The female midget AA hockey team still had their hands smarting from high fives on the bench after Marci Leblanc's shorthanded goal at 9:51 of the second when Moose Jaw's Mikayla Anderson tied the game on the same power play 11 seconds later. The Bear Cats never quite got over the shock as they surrendered two goals in the third period to lose 3-1 in South Saskatchewan Female Midget AA Hockey League action.
“We just didn't put in the effort (and) didn't deserve to win,” said Bear Cats head coach Trevor Morrison. “We were getting beat to the pucks again, we're not playing as a team. We're giving away pucks. We're not playing our unit. If you're not willing to go the extra mile, it's going going to turn out your way.”
The Bear Cats outshot the Mavericks 29-17 but Morrison said his team wasn't grinding and getting in front of the net very well.
“We've got to be hungry,” Morrison said. “We're not hungry enough. We're too nice to play against. Sure, we're getting lots of shots but we're getting a lot of outside shots. We're not getting the tough shots inside. They're standing in front of the net blocking the shots, and we have nobody there to outmuscle them or even challenge them. We need to be more aggressive.
“We'll work on that this week in practice, believe me.”
Morgan Fayle took the loss in net with 14 saves.
The Bear Cats won the game Friday against Moose Jaw 2-1. Leblanc and Jaycee McLellan scored the goals. Myah Battersby stopped 23 of 24 shots in the Estevan net.
The Bear Cats' next action is Friday at Affinity Place at 8 p.m. against the Notre Dame Hounds. They travel to Melville to play the Parkland Lions Sunday afternoon.
