Northern Bears can’t hold onto early lead in home loss to Notre Dame

Photo by Nathan Reiter. Prince Albert Northern Bears forward Kinley Brassard advances the puck up the left wing during SFU18AAAHL action at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday, Nov. 25 2022

Despite taking a 2-0 lead, the Prince Albert Northern Bears couldn’t hold on as they fell to the Notre Dame Hounds 3-2 in SFU18AAAHL action on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre

Northern Bears head coach Steve Young says it was some slight miscues that led to the loss.

“Effort wise, I thought the girls did well. Obviously a 2-0 lead you never want to give up and it’s frustrating that way. It’s a game of inches, when you are working hard, you also got to work smart. We made some mistakes that allowed them to get some goals so frustrating that way. We need the effort tomorrow to get over the hump here.”

The Northern Bears found themselves in penalty trouble early as Notre Dame had a 5-on-3 power play opportunity, but goaltender Brooke Archer stood her ground and turned aside the Notre Dame siege and the Bears would successfully kill the penalties to bring the game back to even strength.

Young says the Bears managed the penalty kill well throughout the game

“I thought that was a big kill. I thought it gave us momentum and we did the things we had to do on it. Things like that were very good as a hockey club, the girls are frustrated and we have to get this win to get them smiling tomorrow.”

Julia Cey would open the scoring with the first Prince Albert shot of the game as her wrist shot beat Hounds goaltender Schay Camphaug to give the Bears a 1-0 advantage

Cey says having her linemates nearby gave her the confidence to make a play.

“I was kind of just trying to just recover because I lost it going into the zone. I was thinking ‘Steve is going to be on me if I don’t get this back’. I put my mind to it. When I got to it, I knew I had my wingers with me so I was confident in being able to make a play. It was definitely a line effort for sure.

The visiting Hounds outshot Prince Albert 18-6 in the first period.

In the second period, the Northern Bears would double the lead with 8:07 remaining as Claudia Lammers sniped one past Camphaug. Sasha Malenfant picked up the helper.

Notre Dame would strike back as a perfectly placed wrist shot from captain Julianna Herman cut the Bears lead in half with 4:26 remaining in the second period.

Julianna Herman is the younger sister of Raiders captain Evan Herman.

The Hounds would even up the score just over three and a half minutes later. Kyra Anderson would strike with her 9th goal of the season. Herman would pick up the assist for her second point of the game.

Shots in the second period favored the Northern Bears 12-10.

Young says that the Bears were able to get more pucks on the net with less time spent on the penalty kill.

“I don’t think we were shooting like we should have in the first. They got some power plays and got some shots. It was very important to come out in the second and get some shots on net. Things aren’t going to happen for any team if you don’t get pucks to the net and I thought we did a little better that way.”

Notre Dame would take the lead in the third period with 11:42 remaining. Julianna Herman picked up her second goal and third point of the contest to give the Hounds a 3-2 lead.

The Northern Bears would not be able to find the equalizer as Herman’s second would prove to be the game winner for the Hounds.

Cey says the Bears feel snakebitten by the loss but are hoping to earn the split Saturday.

“I think we’re all kind of sad about the loss. That was one of the hardest games we battled. So, we just have to think about tomorrow now and put that effort in tomorrow. If we get pucks to the net, we can come on top for sure.”

The Northern Bears will look to earn a split against the Notre Dame Hounds on Saturday afternoon at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 1:30pm.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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