U18 AA Foxes begin PA Female Hockey Tournament with win over Eastman Sharks

Nathan Reiter/Daily Herald. The Prince Albert Foxes celebrate a third period goal during U18 AA action at the Kinsmen Arena on Friday morning.

It was a picture perfect start for the weekend for the Prince Albert U18 AA Foxes as they skated to a 2-1 over the Eastman Sharks at Kinsmen Arena on Friday morning.

Tyler Spence, the head coach of the Foxes says he liked how the team came out of the gate.

“I really liked how our girls really got engaged in the game. We’ve been practicing a lot, working on our regroups, and I thought the girls did a really good job tonight of just a full game from start to finish.”

Eastman would open the scoring less than three minutes into the first period as Pascale Kihn would find the back of the net for the Sharks. Charlee Tannahill and Heidi Blahy picked up the helpers.

Prince Albert would respond with 6:45 to go in the opening frame as Reese Galloway would deflect a puck past Eastman goaltender Rianna Oswald to put the Foxes on the board. Reign Blanchard and Alexis Wawro had the helpers on the play.

Spence gave a lot of credit to Foxes starting netminder Sharon Head who kept Prince Albert in the game early on.

“They got a quick one on us that I’m sure (our) goalie would like back, but she stood tall for us for the rest of the game.” Spence explained. “She held us in the game when they were putting pressure on and allowed our defense and our forwards to really try and focus on the offense, which was tough to get going.”

After the second period saw no goals on either side, the third period saw the Foxes break through and take the lead.

Natasha Gyoerick gave the Foxes the lead with 16:09 to go in the final frame with a power play goal. Wawro and Abby Hoegi picked up the helpers.

Prince Albert was not able to find the scoreboard again, despite holding a healthy lead on the shot clock.

“Their goalie played really well, a testament to their team.” Spence said. “They had a really good team out here today, and we got lots of shots on that. I think we outshot them by about 20 or 30 shots, and we just couldn’t get one past her , and it was a deflection that got us in the first one and a nice power play goal on the second one. It was a good game, and I thought the girls played really
well from start to finish.”

The Foxes had another game on their schedule on Friday against the Northeast Aces at 4 p.m., but results were not available as of press time.

Spence says starting the tournament off with a win was massive because of the format of the tournament.

“It’s huge. It’s not pool play, there’s seven teams so your record really matters whether you move on to the tournament or not. A good start was huge, especially the first game after the Christmas break when the girls haven’t been on the ice much since mid-December.”

The Prince Albert Female Hockey Tournament continues throughout the weekend.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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