Yorkton Minor Hockey’s lone female hockey team – the Yorkton Gardon Crushers – moved one step closer to a league championship in their first-ever South Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SSFHL) Bantam ‘A’ campaign this past weekend.
The Crushers took Game One of their Best-of-Three SSFHL Bantam ‘A’ championship series against the Moose Jaw Mavericks 4-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Red Knight Arena at CFB Moose Jaw before dropping a 4-1 Game Two decision Sunday at the Kinsmen Arena in Yorkton.
Game One
A combination of Crusher nerves and Maverick tenacity in the first period of Game One resulted in Yorkton quickly having to play catch up, as the host Mavericks opened the scoring midway through the first period on Raea Gilroy’s seventh goal of the postseason.
Dakota Knox gave Moose Jaw a 2-0 lead with 3:19 remaining in the first frame when she too put the puck past Yorkton net minder Haley Schrader for a 2-0 Moose Jaw lead after 20 minutes.
It didn’t take the Mavericks very long to add to their lead in the second period, as the Mavericks made it 3-0 Just 56 seconds into the middle frame when Kaitlyn Gilroy jammed a loose puck past Schrader and into the back of the Yorkton cage.
Moose Jaw looked to increase their lead not long after, but Schrader made a series of important saves to keep the deficit at just three, however as the period wore on it seemed as if the Crushers might not be able to find a way to put the puck past Moose Jaw goaltender Harper Davey – who had shut out the Crushers in back-to-back games prior to Game One.
Then, with just 2:01 remaining in the second period, Yorkton found some hope as Rachel Pankratz found a chink in the armor of Davey, putting the puck past the Maverick keeper to cut the deficit to two at 3-1.
An Austen Dubreuil marker 24 seconds later made it a one goal game at 3-2 with 1:37 left in the second period, then, with just 50 seconds remaining in the second period defenceman Sara Auchstaetter – playing forward with Sierra Meroniuk in the penalty box – picked the puck up off of a Moose Jaw turnover and beat Davey to even the game at three heading into the third and final period. “Getting that first goal was big for us, not just to get a goal, but to prove that they weren’t that much better than us,” said Crusher head coach Fred Schrader following the game. “Like any sport, hockey is a mental game. They have the physical ability and they have the skill, it was just a matter of getting it in their heads that they (Moose Jaw) weren’t better than them.
“When Rachel got that first goal I think it proved to the girls that they could skate with and score on them, and that made the difference.”
With the mental block behind them the Crushers completed the comeback in the third period as Pankratz – who opened the Crusher scoring in the second period –capped off the offence in the third, out-manoeuvering the Maverick defenceman before snapping the puck past Davey for what ultimately resulted in the game winning goal with 9:06 remaining in the third period to make it a 4-3 Game One final in favour of Yorkton.
Game Two
The Yorkton Gardon Crushers were looking to close out their inaugural 2015/16 SSFHL Bantam ‘A’ campaign Sunday afternoon at the Kinsmen Arena with a Game Two win over their Championship series opponents the Moose Jaw Mavericks, however the Mavericks seemed to have different ideas, as the visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Kaitlyn Gilroy and Crystal Wale.
A Shaelyn Myers goal with 3:29 left in the first period cut the Maverick lead in half at 2-1, but just 40 seconds later Wale – who led all SSFHL Bantam ‘A’ players with 33 goals and 48 points in the regular season – scored her second of the period for a 3-1 Moose Jaw advantage.
A scoreless second period saw both teams stymied time and time again by goaltenders Haley Schrader and Harper Davey resulting in a 3-1 game after 40 minutes, but a Devyn Davey goal with 7:11 left gave Moose Jaw a 4-1 lead; a lead they would not give up, as the Crushers dropped Game Two 4-1. “Moose Jaw came out a little bit hungrier and a little bit more focused for Game Two, and we maybe weren’t ready for that,” said the Crusher head coach, adding that while the team itself might not have been prepared, the loss was in no way the fault of the goaltending. “Our goaltending was strong both games and our forwards played well, it was just that we made a few defensive lapses and were caught puck watching at times and that’s what cost us.”
Schrader said that while losing at home in Game Two wasn’t ideal, the fact that they had that as an out was. “We won Game One, so we knew that if we didn’t have our best effort in Game Two, we still had a chance in Game Three to get it done,” offered Schrader. “You have that second life that if you didn’t play as well as you could have in Game Two, you still have Game Three there for you to play at your highest level, and that’s what we’re going to do on Monday.”
The third and final game of the series will go Monday night at Moose Jaw’s Kinsmen Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
