The Estevan Power Dodge peewee A Vipers defeated the Saskatoon Comet Fury 8-3 in the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) female provincial playoff final, at the Civic Auditorium on March 22, to become provincial champions.
The matchup was the conclusion of their two-game, total-goals, provincial playoff series. Estevan outscored Saskatoon 9-7 overall in the series.
Game 1 was on March 20 in Saskatoon and the Vipers lost 4-1.
In the most recent game, Marci LeBlanc opened the scoring 21 seconds into the first period, to put Estevan up 1-0. Brynn Kuntz had the assist.
“We scored on our first shift of the game, which kind of put Saskatoon back on their heels,” coach Chad Farr said.
The Comet Fury responded with two straight goals, to go up 2-1.
A minute after Saskatoon’s second goal, Estevan knotted the game at 2-2, when Kenzie Balon lit the lamp. Ireland Biette and Adah De Leeuw earned the helpers.
Close to the midway point of the period, Balon scored her second goal of the game, and regained the lead for the Vipers. Taylor Haux and Biette assisted the play.
After the first period, Estevan had a 3-2 lead.
Three-and-half seconds into the second, Biette and Balon connected to give Estevan a two-goal lead.
Eighteen seconds later, Saskatoon scored their final goal of the game to make it 4-3.
The Vipers regained their two-goal lead when Biette netted her second goal of the game. Jenna Currie and Balon contributed with the assists.
Toward the end of the period, Estevan went up 6-3 as Balon picked up the hat trick on the goal. Haux and Currie had the assists.
Farr was happy with the play of his team in the period.
“We started rolling, we started putting pucks in the right spot, and limited our turnovers and capitalized on their turnovers, and put it in the net, “he said.
In the final period, the Panthers scored two more goals. Leblanc netted one for her second of the game and Balon had the other goal, for her fourth of the game. Baily Farr, Jaycee McLellan and Biette had the assists.
“Our team showed a lot of resiliency and tenacity, and we played straight away hockey,” Farr said.
Entering the game, The Vipers were down three goals in the series and Farr told is team to win each period 1-0, and they achieved that by scoring multiple goals in each period.
In Game 1, despite the 4-1 loss, Farr believed that his team played well on the road.
They trailed 2-1 after two periods, and when Saskatoon scored two early goals in the third it was too much of a deficit for the Panthers two overcome.
Overall Farr was impressed with the way is team played in the championship series, as they achieved their season goal.
“To be the best in Saskatchewan is always a pretty good feeling.”
