Dave Leaderhouse
Special to the Herald
A massive celebration of female hockey came to an end on Sunday with a pair of local squads claiming gold medals at the 25th anniversary of the Prince Albert Foxes hockey tournament.
More than 70 teams from across Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba competed in 10 divisions during the three-day extravaganza with the Foxes leading the way in the U13AA and U18A events.
In the U13AA field, the Foxes were almost flawless as the club allowed just one goal in five games culminating with a 4-0 decision over the Regina Rebels in the championship final. The Foxes, who got two goals each from Emmerson Palchinski and Taylor Briones in addition to shut-out netminding from Payton Braaten in the gold-medal game, had blanked the St. Albert Bolts 5-0, Lloydminster Steelers 5-0 and the Northeast Aces 6-0 in preliminary action with the only blemish coming in a 4-1 victory over the Southeast Gold Wings.
The U18A final was also somewhat anti-climactic as Prince Albert jumped into a 3-0 advantage after 20 minutes of play before cruising to a 6-3 triumph over the Saskatoon Comet Predators. Madison Kemp led the way for the Foxes in the championship game scoring twice with single markers coming from Lowen Sumlic, Kaydyn Lanoie, Brooke Mihilewicz and Ayli Schatkoske. Maggie Johns also had a strong performance collecting assists on three of the tallies.
The U18A Foxes weren’t as dominant as their U13AA counterparts in preliminary play, but they were still a force to be reckoned with as they beat the Warman Wildcats 9-2, Parkland Prairie Ice 5-2 and Saskatoon Comet Predators 3-0 with a 5-4 setback to the Spiritwood Wolves being the lone loss.
One other Prince Albert team had a shot at gold on Sunday, but the Foxes were beaten 3-2 in overtime by the Martensville Marlies in the U11B final with Mia Krahn and Ruby Walter tallying for the host squad. Prince Albert couldn’t solve Martensville in preliminary action either as the clubs battled to a 3-3 draw in that match while the Foxes also posted 2-0 and 4-3 victories over Warman and Lanigan, respectively, to qualify for the championship final.
Two other local squads that enjoyed lesser levels of success were the U18AA Foxes, who captured the B-final in that division with a 4-2 victory over Lumsden, and the U13A Foxes, who were clipped 3-2 by Martensiville in the B-final of that group.
The tournament kicked off with a huge banquet on Thursday to celebrate the milestone anniversary and to also recognize two long-time volunteers – Luc Robin and Jim Flynn. The more than 150-game schedule of games was a big undertaking, but Flynn says it went off without any really issues.
“There were no big problems other than making sure everyone was on time,” noted Flynn. “The out-of-town teams really enjoyed themselves – overall we are really happy.”
While this was by far the biggest tournament the group has ever hosted, Flynn said it will likely be changed for future events.
“With more things coming into the city we just won’t be able to get the hotels we need,” said Flynn. “We’re kind of thinking of having two tournaments next year – one for the house teams and another for the AA teams, a showcase of sorts.”
Whatever the format, it is sure to be a boom for the city as this year’s event had games played in nine different arenas with almost every hotel room in the city booked by out-of-town visitors. It was a great way to start off the New Year.
Following is a complete list of the division finals.
U9C – there were 14 teams in this age group, but all games were for the players to gain experience and exposure to a tournament environment. There were no finals.
U9B – A-final – Southeast Goldwings over Saskatoon Comet Mission 5-1; B-Final – Saskatoon Comet Lazers over Saskatoon Comet Defenders 3-2.
U11B – A-final – Martensville over P.A. Foxes 3-2; B-Final – Warman over Battlefords 3-1.
U11C – A-final – Meadow Lake over Humboldt 5-3; B-final – Saskatoon Comet Rebels over Tri-Town 8-3.
U13A – A-final – The Pas over Regina 6-1; B-final – Martensville over the P.A. Foxes 3-2.
U13AA – A-final – P.A. Foxes over Regina 4-0; B-final – Warman over Southeast Goldwings 3-1.
U15A – A-final – Northeast Aces over Saskatoon Comet Vipers 5-0; B-final – Warman Jaguars over Warman Bearcats 5-1.
U15AA – A-final – Warman over Saskatoon Comet Impact 3-2; B-final – Lloydminster over Swift Current 2-1.
U18A – A-final – P.A. Foxes over Saskatoon Comet Predators 6-3; B-final – Spiritwood over Warman Bengals 8-2.
U18AA – A-final – Regina over Northwest Sharks 4-0; B-final – P.A. Foxes over Lumsden 4-2.
