The St. Albert Slash continued their statement as a championship-calibre team with their seventh victory of the season Saturday in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
Fresh off the puck drop in the 7-2 decision against the Calgary Bruins at Performance Arena, the Slash were able to bury a pair by Angie Mason, who was helped along by a couple of goals in the second by Matana Skoye and Karly Heffernan.
Even though his squad was able to establish a dominating lead after two periods, head coach Terry Sydor insists the game didn’t play out to his expectations.
“Strangely enough we outshot them considerably and obviously outscored them but we worked on a bunch of simple things in practice this week. We focused on the fundamentals and we didn’t really execute them to the expectations of the coaching staff,” said Sydor.
A major factor in the Slash’s offence rested on the shoulders of Mason and Skoye, who were able to feed off each other throughout the game to finish with a combined six points.
“I’ve played with Matana a lot before in previous years and it usually works out well,” said Mason.
In the third period the Bruins (3-5-2) managed to achieve a closer score on the scoreboard with a pair of goals, but were warded off by an additional two goals from Heffernan and an effort that was shot past the arm of the goalie off the stick of Kate Lumley.
The Slash dominated the shot count 47-19. In net was Chloe Sanderson.
The Slash were riding a hot streak defensively in the goals-against category but Sydor believes the few goals that have been scored against his squad were a result of the same mistakes being made.
“Unfortunately some of the players are in those same situations. We talked about it, worked on it and now we need to change it,” said Sydor.
The next day in Red Deer the Slash lost 4-3 to the Chiefs (7-1-1), the top team in the south division. The Chiefs led 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 after two periods. Slash scorers were Lumley, Sabrina Flemming and Krystal Reithmayer. Shots were 24-22 for Red Deer. In net was Emily Mitchell.
It was the first loss for the Slash (7-2-1) since the 6-2 season opener in Red Deer.
The Slash are currently spending the week showcasing their skills in an exhibition tournament in Boston with games against Holy Cross University, Massachusetts-Boston University and two division three NCAA teams.
The opportunity to play against teams at the next level in women’s hockey is an experience Skoye is confident her team is ready for.
“It’s going to be intense. We are playing against really good teams,” she said. “It’s going to be tough but I think we are up to the challenge.”
The Slash will resume the regular season Oct. 30 at home against the winless Lloydminster Steelers at 2:15 p.m. The next day they will battle the north division-leading Edmonton Thunder (9-0-1) at 2 p.m. at Castledowns Arena. The matchup against the Thunder, the 2010 bronze medallists at the Esso Cup national championship, will be a test of whether offence or defence will win a hockey game, according to Sydor.
“It will be interesting. They don’t allow very many goals against and we scored a fair amount. We will have to see who wins out,” he said. “It’s almost like pitching against batting.”
The Slash are the host team for the 2011 Esso Cup, April 17 to 23 at Servus Credit Union Place.
