For the second consecutive day, the Prince Albert Northern Bears fell in a one goal decision on home ice, taking a 3-2 loss to the Weyburn Gold Wings on Sunday afternoon at the Art Hauser Centre.
Bears head coach Steve Young said there were plenty of positives for the team throughout the weekend, but sees room for improvement.
“I thought we started off very strong and got pucks to the net and had some momentum. They went down and scored a goal and I thought our girls got a bit disheartened by that. When I look at the weekend as a whole, we had a lot of good things but at the same time, there are things that we will be able to improve to make our team stronger for the next two games.”
The Bears would fall behind early, surrendering two first period goals to Weyburn. The first came short handed off the tape of Kiah Shields at the 14:40 mark to give the visitors a 1-0 led. Nola Exner assisted on the play.
Just over two minutes later, Abigail Manz would double the lead for Weyburn. Brooklyn Siemens and Rori Dickie assisted on the play.
A short handed tally would give the Gold Wings a 3-0 advantage at the 6:07 mark of the second period off the tape of Julia Durr, unassisted.
Prince Albert would break the seal on the same power play as Addison Davidge recorded her first goal at the U18 AAA level just over thirty seconds later. Bree Purcell provided the only assist.
“It means a lot to get the season started off strong.” Davidsge said post-game. “In the second game to get my first point and start the season off right.”
Young said Davidge impressed as a 15 year-old in her first taste at the U18 AAA level.
“I thought both of her games were good. She’s a first year player in the league, she plays with confidence. The type of style she plays, she is going to be a good player in this league.”
The Bears would pull within one in the dying seconds as Marly Dumanski would find twine for the first time this season with just 7.5 seconds left to go. Tristyn Endicott and Addison Davidge provided assists on the play.
The Bears will return to action on Oct. 21 when they travel to Regina to take on the defending league champion Regina Rebels for a weekend series. Puck drops at 2:30 p.m.
