Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
The Prince Albert Raider Northern Bears got a split in opening-weekend Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League action, but they certainly didn’t take the easy road to achieve that feat.
With their goaltender pulled in favor of an extra attacker the Weyburn Gold Wings threw everything they had, including the proverbial kitchen sink, at the Bears’ goal in the waning moments, but Prince Albert netminder Tess Kelly kept the door closed to secure a 3-2 decision in a thrilling game played Sunday at the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre.
“We believe this league is going to be very close this year so it was very important that we got the split,” said Bears’ head coach Steve Young. “We showed a lot of maturity in that kind of situation. We might have bent, but we didn’t break.”
After dropping their season opener 5-0 to Weyburn on Saturday, the Bears came out determined to turn the tables less than 24 hours later as Amelia Bernier and Jersie Andersen scored to stake the hosts to a 2-0 first-period advantage on Sunday.
The Gold Wings cut the deficit in half midway through the second period, but just over a minute later Londyn Hoffman would notch what would be the game winner and when Weyburn once again pulled to within one with a power-play tally early in the final frame it was all hands on deck to preserve the victory.
“We’ve got everybody working hard,” explained Young. “We are going to make mistakes, but we have to learn from that.”
“Hockey is a simple game if played right,” he added.
Kelly finished the game with 29 saves in the Prince Albert goal while the Bears directed 34 shots at the Weyburn net.
The Bears will have a few days off to recover from the hectic opening weekend before they head to Swift Current on Saturday for the first of two against the Wildcats. The next home game for the Bears is not until Oct. 28 when they will host the Saskatoon Stars.
In other local hockey action from the weekend the Prince Albert Timberjaks saw their early Prairie Junior Hockey League record fall to 1-2-0 after they were outscored 5-2 by the Chiefs in Martensville on Sunday. That result came one day after the Timberjaks had picked up a 6-2 decision over the Saskatoon Royals in their home opener on Saturday at the Northern Regional Recreation Centre.
Keethan Isbister added to his league-leading points total with one of the Timberjaks’ goals on Sunday while Evan Malenfant netted the other. Isbister, a former most valuable player in the PJHL, had a huge night in the home opener on Saturday as the smooth-skating forward had two goals and a pair of helpers with Brody Anderson matching those numbers on Saturday. Anderson also picked up an assist on Sunday to sit just one point back of Isbister in the individual scoring race.
While Isbister and Anderson displayed their veteran leadership on the weekend rookie forward Cruz Stacey was not going to be overshadowed as he registered a five-point night on Saturday, scoring once and setting up four others. Trey Mudry completed the scoring for Prince Albert with his first of the season.
Connor Brady suffered the loss in the Prince Albert goal on Sunday while Jason Hozack picked up the win on Saturday.
The Timberjaks return to action on Friday when they head to Carrot River to take on the Outback Thunder. The next home game for the Timberjaks is not until Oct. 15 when they will host Martensville at 7:30 p.m. at the NRCC.
