The first loss for the St. Albert Slash since Feb. 23 was Monday’s overtime setback to the Sudbury Wolves at the 11th annual Esso Cup.
A slap shot from the point by Madison Laberge beat a screened Brianna Sank at 3:59 of the extra period with the Slash's Mackenzie Kordic in the penalty box for cross-checking.
Both teams were coming off victories in the midget AAA female tournament opener Sunday in Sudbury, Ont. The Slash downed As de Quebec 3-1 and the Wolves defeated Halifax Fire 6-2.
Tuesday the Slash played the Saskatoon Stars and the score was unavailable at press time.
The Slash wrap up the six-team round robin against Halifax today and Stoney Creek (Ont.) Sabres on Thursday.
The top four teams qualify for Friday’s semifinals and the medal finals are Saturday.
Visit www.hockeycanada.ca for the Esso Cup website.
The Slash were winners of 14 of 15 games at the Esso Cup before the Wolves knocked off the two-time defending champions.
Shots were 33-24 for the Wolves as the host team finished 3-for-10 on the power play and the Slash were 0-for-5.
In the first period, a wrister by Dayle Ross beat netminder Mireille Kingsley top shelf as Alli Reich assisted on the play.
The Wolves responded eight minutes and 20 seconds later as Alexe Clavelle finished off a three-way passing play with the man advantage.
Late in the third, Abbey Patterson lifted the puck over a sprawled Sank at 16:11 and with 41 seconds left in regulation time Isabelle Lajoie beat Kingsley after receiving a pass from captain Madison Willan.
The Slash were a stellar 33-3-1 (147 GF/34 GA) overall before the loss to the Wolves, 19-1-2 (95 GF/19 GA) in league play with the lone defeat in the last game of the regular season before going 6-0 (20 GF/5 GA) in the provincial national qualifier, including the 3-2 outcome against Stoney Creek in the final.
The first game for the Slash featured one goal and one assist by Willan, the Alberta Female Hockey League’s leading scorer (24-27-51 in 30 games) and MVP for the second time in three seasons.
In the middle frame, Willan reeled in a breakaway feed from Taylor Anker and while fending off a defender slipped a backhander through the pads of Justine Sylvain while falling to the ice to make it 2-0 against Quebec, 16-7-7 (93 GF/60 GA) in league play and 3-2 (5 GF/6 GA) in the provincial national qualifier.
Anker also assisted on Lajoie’s wrister to open the scoring with 1:51 left in the first and Willan’s short pass set up Jaden Bogden’s goal into a wide-open net at 12:13 of the second.
Quebec ended Sank’s shutout bid with Ann-Sophie Bedard’s shot from the slot with 4:18 to play.
Sank faced 18 shots, including 11 in the third, while the Slash were credited with 40 pucks on net.
Quebec rebounded Monday to topple Saskatoon 7-3.
Saskatoon won its first game Sunday 6-4 against Stoney Creek.
At last year’s Esso Cup in Bridgewater, N.S., the Slash edged Saskatoon 2-1 in the final after losing to the Stars 4-1 in the round robin. The Stars were winners of 24 straight before the championship game.
With 13 returnees on the roster, Saskatoon entered the Esso Cup with a record of 27-0-1 (149 GF/44 GA) in league play and 8-1 (28 GF/11 GA) in the west national qualifier.
The Slash have nine players back from their 34-11-1 winning lineup as the first team in Esso Cup history to repeat, plus the original five – Willan, Anker, Lajoie, Sank and Makenna Schuttler – remain from the 38-4-1 champions as the first Alberta team to win nationals in 2017 at Morden, Man.
The Slash were also selected Hockey Alberta’s Team of the Year in 2018.
