The Weyburn DQ Blizzards won the inaugural South Sask Female Hockey League atom division championship with a come-from-behind 7-4 win over the Estevan Senchuk Ford Mustangs in the title game at the Civic Auditorium on Sunday.
Amanda Minchin, head coach of the Mustangs, said her team gave their all in the game, executed what they have learned in practice and kept on the Blizzards throughout, but unfortunately ran out of steam in the third period. She said the kids started to get into penalty trouble as the game wore on giving Weyburn the advantage.
“Our girls (were) a little tired and I think they stopped moving their feet and that's where the slashing comes out,” said Minchin. “Unfortunately that cost us three goals and if we had stayed out it might have been a different game.”
The Mustangs entered as the third seed in the four-team season-ending championship tournament over the weekend thanks to their 8-8-2 regular season record. Estevan began play with a Friday night loss to the Swift Current Broncos (9-8-1), before defeated the Swift Current Blues (1-17) Saturday afternoon and the Broncos 6-4 that evening to decide who would go up against the Blizzards on Sunday.
“We were talking in the dressing room how we've progressed from day one,” said Minchin. “We have four novice girls on our team including our goalie...and we've greatly improved. It would have been nice to play another game. It would have been nice to win of course, but I'm very happy with the development of our team and each girl individually.”
The Blizzards went 3-0 in the tournament beating the Blues Friday night, the Broncos Saturday afternoon and finally the Mustangs on Sunday morning. The win capped off an outstanding season for the Blizzards that saw the team post a 16-1-1 regular season record in the four-team atom division.
“This is the first year of female atom in the South Sask Female Hockey League, so it was a good year overall for everybody and I think all the teams enjoyed it,” said Blizzards head coach Kirk Dickie. “We're hoping to grow the league and gain some teams over the next few years and keep making female hockey strong.”
