The Power tech Bear Cats took part in a bit of a gift exchange Dec. 23, but it turns out they and the visiting Regina Ravens gave each other the same thing: a tie.
The Bear Cats (9-5-2) and Ravens (15-1-3) engaged in the last Saskatchewan Female Midget AA Hockey League action before the Christmas break at Affinity Place, a 2-2 draw.
The teams always seem to play a tight defensive battle with few offensive chances – and those chances were to be of key importance with Bear Cats leading scorer Marci LeBlanc out of the lineup.
“The Ravens are the top team,” said Bear Cats head coach Trevor Morrison. “They beat us 3-2 and 2-1. We’re getting closer. We’re missing a couple of players. I said to the girls that you don’t worry about who’s not playing. You worry about who’s dressed in the unis and I thought every girl up and down our lineup played well.”
Regina scored at 3:12 of the first period on the power play but the Bear Cats held firm and didn’t allow much the rest of the way, even through killing penalties. A shot from the point by blueliner Brynn Kuntz for her first of the season on the Bear Cats’ power play at 14:21 tied the game.
“Our goalie played well, our defencemen played well and our forwards played very well shorthanded,” said Morrison. “One of our d-girls was sick and we were going to rotate her out. We told her we’d do it right after the game.”
Bailey Farr poked in her own rebound on the power play at 8:09 of the second period to give the Bear Cats the lead. But a couple of minutes later, Olivia Leggatt put the puck behind Estevan’s Morgan Fayle to tie the game again.
The tie was impressive given who the Bear Cats were missing – LeBlanc and her 19 goals. The Bear Cats each raised their individual games in her absence.
“We are stressing to the girls that everybody does something a little bit different… to bring to our game,” said Morrison. “OK, Marci scores the most goals. The other girls do other things that all add to our team game. Missing Marci, we miss our top goal scorer. But every girl on our team brings something to the table.
January will be a busy month for the Bear Cats with nine games on the schedule. Jan. 2, 2018 they go to Weyburn (4-10-3) and then Jan. 5 they go to Regina to play the Capitals (11-5-1).
