The Prince Albert Northern Bears couldn’t gain much traction as they fell 8-2 to the top ranked Regina Avana Rebels in SFU18AAAHL action on Saturday afternoon.
Northern Bears head coach Steve Young says the Northern Bears didn’t match Regina in the areas they needed to.
“I thought Regina played the game we expected. We didn’t slow them down where we needed to slow them and its frustrating that one. The only way you learn is by going through it and I hope we bounce back tomorrow”
Berlin Lolacher opened up the scoring 8:47 into the first period as her wrist shot beat Prince Albert goaltender Brooke Archer high blocker side to give Regina the 1-0 advantage.
After Taelyr Ballard was sent to the penalty box for a body-checking minor 9:06 into the first period, it didn’t take long for the Avana Rebels to take advantage. Mya Girard would strike just six seconds into the power play to double the Regina lead to 2-0
The Regina power play would continue to fire on all cylinders as they would strike with 3:19 remaining in the first period as Greta Henderson scored her 11th goal of the season to extend the Avana Rebel lead to 3-0.
Regina’s captain Greta Henderson would strike on the power play for her second of the game with 15:33 remaining in the second period extending the Avana Rebel lead to 4-0. The goal was Henderson’s 12th of the season, giving her sole possession of the league lead in goals.
Young says the Northern Bears need to engage more on the penalty kill against a strong opponent.
“With the way they play, they have a skill game where they are always moving. From playing the last game, we were more still on the kill and you can’t be still on the kill against a team like this.”
Henderson would complete the hat trick just over a minute and a half later as she would finish off a three-on-one rush assisted by Kadance Dansereau.
The Northern Bears would strike with a power play marker of their own with 5:17 remaining in the second period as Kaebree Young picked up her third goal of the campaign to cut the Regina lead to 5-1.
Regina restore the five goal lead as Stryker Zablocki would score just under four minutes into the third period to make it 6-1 Avana Rebels
Zablocki would pick up her second goal of the game just over two minutes later to extend the lead to 7-1 in favor of Regina.
After another power play goal from Regina, Julia Cey would score for the Northern Bears to cut the Regina lead to 8-2.
“I think it has to [light a fire] under us. It’s our first or two games this weekend and it’s our rink and hopefully that lights a fire under us tomorrow. We’re not asking these girls to do anything different or win every game this year. We expect them to work hard and compete, especially in this rink.”
The Northern Bears and Regina play again on Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm at the Art Hauser Centre.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
