Three unanswered third period goals, including two in the final minute, ended the Estevan Power Dodge bantam A Chargers' season on Saturday at the Lignite Miners Centre.
The Chargers fell 4-3 to the Swift Current Colts on Saturday in Game 3 of the best-of-three first round South Sask Female Hockey League series. The loss came one day after a 4-1 defeat to the Colts in Swift Current and five days after the Chargers opened the series with an 8-4 win at the Civic Auditorium.
“With only 10 skaters, and travelling all the way there on Friday, we travelled back Friday night and played last night on Saturday, it was just a lot on the kids,” said Chargers head coach Kent McLellan. “They worked hard and played well for the most part, but I think we just ran out of gas in the end.”
The Chargers’ Hanna Jaworski and Colts’ Jenny Hope exchanged goals in the first period in Game 2 in Swift Current, before Hope notched her second in the final minute of the middle frame to give them a 2-1 lead entering the third. Swift Current’s Jannae Carlson and Vanessa Clothier scored the Colts’ final two goals in the last 20 minutes.
Back at home on Saturday, the Chargers jumped ahead a little over five minutes in on a marker by Ireland Biette. Biette and teammate Marci LeBlanc bookended a goal by Carlson in the second to give Estevan a 3-1 lead to start the third.
Hope brought Swift Current within one about 13 minutes into the final frame before Carlson tied the game up with 50 seconds remaining. She scored her third 28 seconds later giving Swift Current the first round series win.
“We played most of the season shorthanded, so it was a tough season for these girls,” said McLellan. “I was very proud with the way they handled themselves and the way that they played the game. They came to the rink every time we played with a lot of heart and a lot of desire and they did very well for a team of 12, 13 kids.”
