After a crawling first 40 minutes of play in their provincial opening round game against the Swift Current Wildcats at the Civic Auditorium Feb. 17, the Estevan Power Dodge peewee A Vipers came to life in the final period to earn a 3-2 win in the first match of the two-game total-point series.
“We all said something,” said Viper Karleigh MacKenzie, about what happened in the room during the second intermission. “The coaches came in and talked and all the girls around the room joined around and said something.”
The Vipers looked fresh when they skated onto the ice to begin the third. Down 2-1 on second-period goals by the Wildcats’ Avery Tonnies and Paris Appel after Estevan initially went ahead early in the frame on a marker by Hannah Terrett, the Vipers smothered the Swift Current team leading to a goal from Bailey Farr 41 seconds into the period.
“Adah (De Leeuw) got knocked over and Karleigh tripped over her and I put it in,” said
Bailey, noting they were expecting a strong Swift Current team heading in. “We knew it was going to be a tough one.”
Viper Kenna Hagel scored the game winner a little over four minutes later on a scramble in front after Brynn Kuntz rattled a point shot off the end boards that settled around the crease. Estevan controlled the play after the go-ahead goal, winning battles to loose pucks in the defensive zone and controlling board-play past the Wildcats’ blue line.
Vipers’ affiliated players Jacey Farr, defence, and Chloe Sorenson, goaltender, played a big part in the win. Both normally play for the Estevan atom AA Bruins team.
“They stepped in and they fit,” said Vipers coach Chad Farr. “Chloe was a critical part of our game in the net and she stopped the pucks that we needed her to stop. Jacey, on the backend, stepped in and it looked like she hadn’t missed a step throughout the year.”
Farr said the Wildcats did a good job using their speed to cause the Vipers to panic with the puck. He said new line combinations with the provincial team to accommodate the expanded regular South Sask Female Hockey League roster also contributed to the first two periods' confusion, but that was settled to begin the third.
“We had a good talk with the girls in the room,” he said. “We shuffled our lines. We got back to our regular lines we had in the league and the girls who know our system and how we like playing. That settled down the girls. Once they got more comfortable with their linemates they started playing the game a little bit better.”
The second game of the series goes Feb. 24 in Swift Current. Bailey said the expectation is they’ll face a faster game from the Wildcats, so they’ll have to come out strong to match them.
