The Estevan peewee Vipers female hockey team pressured the puck for a full 60 minutes in their 4-1 win over the Weyburn Gold Wings at the Civic Auditorium on Sunday, but the team can expect more stiff competition from their Highway 39 rivals as the season goes on.
Chad Farr, head coach of the Vipers, said his team showed up at the start and didn’t let their foot off the gas until the final buzzer against the Gold Wings. He said Weyburn has a strong team who skate hard and can shoot the puck, but the Vipers were determined to give them a good game in the first match of the season between the two undefeated South Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SSFHL) teams.
“We had to step up our game today to show them that they’re in our rink and that we can be tough and big and we can play with anyone,” said Farr.
Memory Williamson, head coach of the now 7-1 Gold Wings, said they struggled against the Vipers’ ability to keep pressure on them in their own end, which they had failed to experience in their first seven games. She said her team is a group of hard working kids who gel well together and the next time they face off against the Vipers they’ll be ready.
“We are fairly closely matched,” said Williamson. “Now after playing our first game against each other, for sure we’re going to come back.”
The Vipers controlled the play in the first period against the Gold Wings and continually forced Weyburn to play the game in their own end. The second period saw the match even out with Estevan’s Bailey Farr opening the scoring a little less than six minutes into the frame, before the Gold Wings’ Dakota Bowler replied with 7:26 remaining to make the score 1-1 heading into the third.
The Vipers’ Hannah Terrett swiped the puck in on the low glove side from the top of the crease only 11 seconds into the final 20 minutes to give the home side a 2-1 lead. Ten minutes and 28 seconds later, Brooke Schulhauser made the score 3-1 on a tip in front off a Kiley Davis shot from the point.
Estevan’s Karleigh MacKenzie finished off the scoring with 2:27 remaining on a shot from the hashmarks that beat Weyburn goaltender Kara Zelyck five-hole. Keara Merriman earned the win in nets bringing the Vipers record to 9-0 to start the season.
Farr said the girls earned that unbeaten record, which was recorded mainly on the road considering Estevan’s sole home date before Sunday was an 11-0 win over the Weyburn Canadian Tire Angels on Oct. 9, through good practices and determination. He said the team structured their schedule road-heavy to start the year so they could brave the nasty winter weather in the heart of the season at home and the girls are pumped to have reached that mark in such good shape.
“It’s a good bunch of kids,” said Farr. “We show up to the rink and we work hard and we put our sticks in the right position. We angle. We get to the pucks. We just play an all-round team game.”
The Vipers entered the Gold Wings match on Sunday fresh off a B-side championship win at a tournament in Brandon the prior weekend and head off to play in a girls peewee AA tournament in Grand Forks, North Dakota, this weekend. Farr said this Grand Forks tourney against high calibre competition should push the kids to play even better than they are now as the club continues on their quest for a SSFHL title.
“Our goal is to play hard,” he said. “Our goal is to win games and win period by period. Our goal is to build skill and fundamentals all year and try to win the league championship at the end.”
