The defending Mac’s midget AAA female champions got off to a flying start in Sunday’s tournament opener in Calgary.
Sabrina Flemming, Melissa Kueber, Deanna Morin and Eliza Snider potted goals in the 4-1 victory by the St. Albert Slash against the Calgary Chaos. Jessica Kampjes, the 2010 tournament MVP and first-team all-star forward, picked up two assists. Emily Mitchell stopped 29 shots. It was 4-0 when Chaos scored with 12:52 to play.
In the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League, the Slash (16-3-3) are ranked second in the north and Chaos (8-8-7) is fourth in the south.
Pool play continues Tuesday for the Slash against the Vancouver Fusion, but the score was unavailable at press time. Today at 3:30 p.m. the Slash battle the Medicine Hat Hounds. Their last game before the semifinals is 8 a.m. Thursday against the Saskatoon Stars.
The Jan. 1 final at the Saddledome will be broadcast live by Shaw TV at 10 a.m.
Results for the 15-team draw are online at www.macstournament.ab.ca.
In the 2010 final the Slash downed the Calgary Flyers 6-2. They finished 5-0-1 overall and scored the first goal in every game.
The Slash are also the host team for the 2011 Esso Cup national championship, April 17 to 23 at Servus Credit Union Place.
The St. Albert Raiders dropped their opening game at the Mac’s tournament Monday, 5-4 to the Saskatoon Contacts.
Tuesday’s score against the Calgary Buffaloes was unavailable at press time. Tonight at 8 p.m. the Raiders play the Okanagan Rockets. Their last round robin game is 12:30 p.m. Thursday against the Carolina Junior Hurricanes.
In the 25-team draw the top finisher in each of the five pools, plus three wildcards, advance to the quarter-finals. The final is Jan. 1 at 2 p.m. at the Saddledome. It will be shown on Shaw TV. Last year the Raiders finished 0-3-1.
In Monday’s loss the Raiders outshot Saskatoon 37-19. Jayden Hart and Joel Harnden put the Raiders ahead 2-0, but Saskatoon tied it up before the end of the first period, Saskatoon scored once in the second and twice in the third before Brady Goebel sniped goals 24 seconds apart late in the game. In net for the Raiders was Tanner Kovacs.
In the Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League, the north division-leading Raiders (16-6-3) share first place overall with the south division Red Deer Rebels (16-5-3) and Calgary Flames (15-4-5).
