The Estevan Power Dodge bantam A Chargers quickly put behind a 12-0 season-opening loss to the Moose Jaw Mavericks at the Civic Auditorium on Friday to look ahead at what could be a strong season.
“Our team this year is predominately a lot of first year kids,” said Chad Farr, head coach of the Chargers. “There is an adjustment there and those adjustments will be made as we grow into the year and these girls become more confident with their skating skills and their puck skills and their leadership.”
Farr added the players in the room have to grow as competitors in the South Saskatchewan Female Hockey League and bond together if they hope to have success. He said they’ll win as a team and lose as a team this year, so everyone has to come to the rink focused on moving their feet and being ready to play.
The Mavericks (3-0) got off to a quick start against the Chargers (0-2) pinning the home side in their own zone with Estevan goaltender Devan Fayle providing the heroics first stoning Eden Gusa with a paddle save on a shot from the hash marks three minutes in before dropping down to stop Tia Miller’s initial shot from the slot and covering up the rebound in front of a couple of Moose Jaw forwards halfway through the frame. The Mavericks offence found an opening 9:15 into the first period on a Kaelyn Logan-Pemkowski one-timer, which was followed with scores from Crystal Wade and Logan-Pemkowski again before the first intermission.
Mavericks forward Makayla Anderson brought the score to 4-0 Moose Jaw 49 seconds into the second before Wade, Miller, Lindsay Daniel and Anderson, with another two, made it 9-0 entering the third period. Moose Jaw’s Wade, Gusa, Delaney Townsend and Logan-Pemkowski lit the lamp in the third despite the outstanding play of Fayle who never gave up on a shot making a couple of big stops late in the game including a goal-saving pad save on Anderson with two minutes remaining when the Mavericks sniper was perched alone at the top of the crease and looking into an open side.
“She played one whale of a game,” said Farr. “We were outshot 49-10. Our goalie, she was our player of the game. She kept us in the game and she worked hard.”
Farr said the team will build positives from the negatives they experienced on opening weekend, which also included a 5-3 loss to the Mavericks at home on Saturday where Keara Merriman made an incredible 52 saves, in an attempt to get better shift by shift and period by period. He said they’re going to build confidence from there and come back better for their next matches against the Southwest Bantam Cyclones (0-0) at home this weekend.
