Rest instead of rust came through for the Estevan peewee A Vipers in their long awaited second game of the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) playoffs.
The Vipers, which haven’t seen any game action since Feb. 12, advanced to the second round of the SHA playoffs with a 5-1 win over the Regina Renegades at the Civic Auditorium on Saturday. The home side didn’t show any sign of being out of practise in the opening 20 minutes, but due to a late goal by Renegades player Mya Gall the club still found themselves behind heading into the first intermission.
“We just went to the dressing room, we talked about what we could do better and talked about what we did good and tried to motivate everybody,” said Vipers left wing Hannah Terrett, whose club defeated the Renegades 4-1 at Regina’s Clarence Mahon Arena in the first contest of the two-game total-point series. “We just wanted to try harder and go into a second gear.”
The Estevan girls hit that gear and kept accelerating, which resulted in Vipers sniper Caydence Chapman notching the equalizer 7:23 into the middle frame by poking a rebound past Renegades goaltender Kearah Pieper off a Morgan Kjersem drive to the net. Terrett made it 2-1 with 1:33 left to go in the period on a jam play after picking up the puck behind the Renegades goal and quickly moving it to the side of the crease.
Regina had a chance to tie the match shortly into the third period on a man advantage opportunity, but a strong penalty kill coupled with a blistering shot from the point by defenceman Jacey Farr put the game further out of reach.
“The draw was (great),” said Farr. “They cleared it out to me and I shot it and got it.”
Vipers captain Kylie Davis made it 4-1 about 11 minutes into the final stanza on a drive down the wing and bad angle shot that fooled Pieper before Kamri Olfert potted the last marker on a net crash with 6:39 remaining. Vipers goalie Chloe Sorenson picked up the win between the pipes.
The Vipers well deserved rest in the South Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SSFHL) playoffs, which came thanks to a second place finish in the regular season resulting in a first round bye, and the lengthy layoff between SHA playoff games will come to an end in early March. The team is set to travel to Swift Current to face the SSFHL third place Fire Cats this Sunday before welcoming the team back to Estevan for the second game on March 11. Dates for the team’s second-round SHA series against Melville have yet to be scheduled.
