The Estevan PowerTech midget AA Panthers have kept their Saskatchewan Hockey Association provincial championship hopes alive.
The Panthers earned a 4-0 shutout of the Swift Current Titans in Game 2 of their semifinal two-game total point series at the Credit Union iPlex Arena on Saturday. The Titans took the first game of the series 1-0 at the Civic Auditorium on March 6.
“The girls played arguably their best game of the year knowing that we were down a goal in their rink,” said Panthers coach Trevor Morrison. “It was exciting. It was awesome.”
After a back-and-forth opening period where neither team was able to find the back of the net, Estevan got a couple of good power-play opportunities in the second frame. Panthers’ forward Makenna Morrison scored twice with the man advantage at the 4:27 and 15:19 marks of the second period, which was followed by Estevan’s Morgan Haygarth outracing a Titans’ defenceman to a loose puck on a dump-out play four-and-a-half minutes into the third and depositing it short-side on Swift Current goalie Samantha Lemay. Kelsey Pastachak got the Panthers’ fourth goal on an empty-netter, while Litesha Spittal earned the shutout.
“Defensively we played strong in both games and up there we just cashed in on our opportunities,” said Morrison. “We had two early power-play goals and we really had a strong power play the whole game. (We) made a couple nice plays and we were rewarded with a couple goals.”
The Panthers are now set to face West Central, a Kindersley team, in the female midget AA provincial final with Game 1 set for Friday at the Civic Auditorium and Game 2 going Tuesday at Dodsland. Morrison said they don’t know very much about their opponent, but that will not change how they’ll get ready for the series.
“We’re going to prepare just like we did for Swift Current and the teams in our league,” he said. “We’re going to go up there and play the same style we’ve been playing here for the last month and hopefully the girls play like they did (Saturday). That was probably our best team game all year. Everybody from the defence to the forwards to our goaltender was on their A-game.”
