The Estevan Power Dodge peewee A Vipers put on full display the progression they’ve made on the ice this season in a hard-fought 4-1 exhibition win over the Estevan McGillicky Thunder at the Civic Auditorium on Sunday.
“The difference in the game today was our girls skated in their lanes, we backchecked well (and) we put pucks where we needed to put pucks,” said Vipers head coach Chad Farr shortly after the win. “We controlled each lane on the ice with sticks and traffic. We allowed their shots to come from the perimeter of the rink, not from the scoring area or the slot, so that’s what our girls did well today.”
After a tight-checking start to the game where neither team seemed able to generate much offence, the Vipers’ Kayla Wanner got her team rolling a little over six minutes in when she broke down the wing, skated into the slot and fired a shot low glove side on Thunder goaltender Chase Mutrie. The Thunder stepped up the pressure after the goal resulting in numerous attempts on Vipers netminder Keara Merriman, who seemed to excel under the heat.
With 7:28 remaining in the first, the Vipers’ Jacey Farr unleashed a wrist shot from the point that found its way into the back of the net thanks to players from both sides blocking Mutrie’s vision of the puck. After another solid pad save from Merriman on a shot from in close by the Thunder’s Kordel Duncan that left the forward shaking his head in disbelief, the Vipers made the score 3-0 on the power play when Adah De Leeuw wristed the puck into the top corner short side from the middle of the face-off circle with 49 seconds remaining.
Thunder captain Kyler Gingras replied when he slammed a cross-crease pass from line mate Tyler Leverton by Merriman and into an open side a little over three minutes into the second. The Vipers goalie left the ice with 5:42 remaining in the frame making way for Chloe Sorenson, who came up with a big pad save on Gingras shortly after stepping into the net. Wanner finished off the scoring about seven and a half minutes into the third on a shot along the ice from the middle of the faceoff circle that slipped under Mutrie’s pad.
The home exhibition win comes on the heels of an A-side championship victory in Foxwarren, Manitoba, last weekend at a 16-team tournament with Estevan representing the only out-of-province contender. The Vipers, who are 13-0-1 in the South Sask Female Hockey League this season, defeated Souris 3-0 in the tournament final.
Farr said their success so far has come from focusing on playing their game. He said the kids are taught in practice the proper angles on how to approach the puck in order to run the opposition out of room and force them to the perimeter and that is exactly what they’ve been doing.
“We just try and put the right coaching techniques in front of them and try and teach them the right way to play the game,” he said. “If they play the right game and put the pucks in the right area, we’re a hard team to beat.”
