The St. Albert Slash are putting up a good fight as the defending champions at the Mac’s tournament in Calgary.
“So far, so good,” head coach Terry Sydor said of the team’s 3-0 start. “We have been able to get the results in each game against some very tough teams.”
The last game in the round robin for the midget AAA females was Thursday against the Saskatoon Stars with first place on the line. The score was unavailable at press time. The Stars scored 20 goals in their three wins and the Slash outscored teams 9-3 in three games.
The top team in the three pools and a wildcard advance to the semifinals. The final is today at 10 a.m. at the Saddledome and it will be aired on Shaw TV. Last year the Slash defeated the Calgary Flyers 6-2 in the final to become the first Alberta-based team to win the Mac’s female division.
“We are three quarters of the way there for qualifying in the playoff round but we still have some work ahead of us,” said Sydor. “We’re really trying to go one game at a time and win each period. We talked about not getting too far ahead and just focusing on the very immediate things.”
In the tournament opener Sunday the Slash overcame some off-ice factors in their 4-1 victory over the Calgary Chaos. The team boarded a bus in St. Albert at 6:45 a.m. and went straight to the rink in time for the 11:30 a.m. puck drop.
“We could have made excuses but the girls chose not to,” said Sydor. “We started out pretty nervous but were able to get that first goal and add to it and achieved the end result.”
Sabrina Flemming, Melissa Kueber, Deanna Morin and Eliza Snider scored and Jessica Kampjes added two assists. Emily Mitchell faced 30 Calgary shots. It was 4-0 when the Chaos scored with 12:52 to play.
In the 2-0 win over the Vancouver Fusion, the shots were 36-15 for the Slash. Sydor believes the result could have been even more slanted in St. Albert’s favour if not for the remarkable performance of Fusion goalie Paige Clark.
“We ran into a really hot goaltender and had many great chances to score but we just struggled to,” he said.
Scoring in support of goalie Chloe Sanderson was Krystal Reithmayer from Ashley Morin in the first period and Matana Skoye from Paige Foster in the third.
The third game was the closest so far as the Slash rallied from a one-goal deficit in the third to edge the Medicine Hat Hounds 3-2 on goals by Kueber and Kampjes, the 2010 tournament MVP and first-team all-star forward. Her game winner was scored right before the end of regulation time.
Foster scored the first Slash goal. Mitchell was in net as the Slash outshot the Hounds 29-26.
In the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League, the Hounds (14-6-4) are second in the south, nine points ahead of the fourth-place Chaos (8-8-7). In the north the Slash (16-3-3) trail the first-place Edmonton Thunder (20-0-4) by nine with two games in hand. The Thunder won their opening three games at the Mac’s.
The tournament also marked the return of Kueber, the team’s captain, and Skoye to the line-up. The Slash forwards contributed offensively in all three wins.
“They are getting back into game shape and their timing. Each game they’re getting stronger so it’s very encouraging,” said Sydor.
