The team of destiny is now a dynasty.
The coronation ceremony for the St. Albert Slash was the Esso Cup three-peat in Saturday’s statement game against the host Sudbury Wolves at the 11th annual midget AAA female national championship.
"I definitely do think we’ve earned that status. It’s very hard to truly understand what we’ve accomplished. It’s incredible to think about it. It’s unprecedented. It’s never been done before. No team has never won it twice let alone three years in a row," said captain Madison Willan of the historic feat of greatness.
Dan Auchenberg, the third-year head coach of the Slash, was in awe of the achievement.
"It’s so amazing how we continue to do this on the biggest stage all the time. I said to the girls, ‘You have no clue what you just accomplished,’" Auchenberg said. "It’s so sweet. You just try to take it all in."
This year’s Esso Cup was the toughest and most triumphant of them all as the Slash finished 4-2-1 in the six-team tournament after piling up four unanswered goals in the last two periods in the 4-1 gold-medal game against Sudbury.
“Yes, I definitely think so just how we got there to the final. We finished fourth in round robin play. We had to play the top team, which ended up being Sask and we won a thrilling overtime and then we played the host team in the final so it definitely had its challenges and I’m glad our team was able to stick together and persevere through it,” said Willan.
The Alberta Female Hockey League’s top scorer and most valuable player this year scored the most important goal for the Slash at the Esso Cup as her 2-1 OT thriller against the Saskatoon Stars set the stage for the showdown with Sudbury, 3-2 winner in sudden death against the St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club team in day two of nationals.
“I really wanted everyone on the team, people who have been there before and those who haven’t, to get that experience to be on TSN, to be featured in a big game like that, to be in a sellout game and play with your team for the last time and have an opportunity to win the national championship so I really wanted it for our team and I’m just happy I was able to be in the right place at the right time,” Willan said.
Saskatoon’s 3-2 decision in the round robin on day three marked the first time the Slash lost two straight games all season while going 36-5-2 in the AFHL, Final Frozen Four provincials, Pacific Region national qualifier and Esso Cup.
“This year it was a really tough week. We had a lot of things go against us. We faced some adversity, but once we got through that semifinal everybody was really confident in each other and we knew we could win,” said assistant captain Taylor Anker. “I know a lot of people didn’t expect it from us. Some of the other teams were kind of almost shocked just because of our record going into the semifinal.”
After the loss to Saskatoon, “I said to the girls, ‘We’re playing good hockey, we’re playing our style of hockey, we’re obviously not maybe getting the calls that we need at the right time or whatever but we’re still playing our game so don’t quit believing in what we’re doing here,'” Auchenberg said. “The tournament is not won in the first three games, we just have to get into the top four and we came back against Atlantic (Halifax Fire on Wednesday) and got the 4-0 win (Holly Borrett stopped 19 shots for the shutout) and solidified us to get into the top four.”
The last game before the semifinals was Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Stoney Creek (Ont.) Sabres. Three goals, including a power-play tally, on 10 shots against Brianna Sank made it 3-0 in the opening 13 minutes.
“We didn’t have the best game against Stoney Creek. We came out a little flat and they exposed Bri a little bit so we needed a change and Holly came in and kind of closed the door and we got our momentum back. We didn’t score but we got our pace back and our game back in the second and third periods and as the game went on we got better,” Auchenberg said. “We had a little bit of a calling out after that game and just kind of got back to what we really are about and how we always believed in our process. We believe we can play with anybody five on five and that’s what we needed to do and we needed to establish that all the time.
“Our focus at the start of the year was to really play better without the puck so our defensive game had to be solid and the less we give up the less we have to score. That was our mindset.”
Three losses in five games (11 GF/11 GA) was “a little hiccup,” according to Auchenberg.
“One was in overtime, which was actually a huge point, it was like a victory,” he said. “The two losses (to Sudbury and Saskatoon) kind of got into their heads a little bit but they’re mentally strong and I’m so impressed with them and how they believed and how they persevered through things throughout the week. They just step up at the right time all the time.
“The mental part of the game had to come into effect this week as well because it’s a grind and the girls that were here before really kind of took the bull by the horn and said, 'OK, we can do this and let’s do it.' ”
Saskatoon was 4-1 in the round robin, including the win against the Slash as the Stars scored the only goal of the third period in the first tilt between the teams since last year’s 2-1 final in Bridgewater, N.S.
The semifinal was scoreless until defenceman Dayle Ross potted a short-side wrister 30 seconds into the third and the Stars slotted the equalizer with 94 seconds remaining.
“We just played one heck of a game from start to finish and there was just that one little hiccup near the end,” Auchenberg said. “Going into overtime, I said, ‘We’re not losing here so put the foot down, play our pace, set the tone in overtime and don’t give them a sniff.’
“They couldn’t get out of their zone and we were fortunate to get that goal.”
Willan, 18, ended the suspense on the team’s 28th shot of the game at 2:46 into OT as Alli Reich and Kiah Vail assisted on the second goal of the tournament and the 33rd in 43 games this season for the five-foot-three right winger.
“I got off the bench and Kiah threw it on net and Alli was crashing the net and a Saskatoon player actually passed it to me right to my stick and the goalie fell down and I was just able to put it upstairs and seal the deal. It was very exciting,” said the team’s leading scorer at the Esso Cup with seven points.
Sank stopped 22 shots including 12 in the first frame dominated by Saskatoon.
Was the semifinal the final for the Slash?
“It definitely felt like a national championship game and we definitely played like it was,” Willan said. “We all stepped up and started playing well. We just stuck together and our team always seems to step up in the big moments and Sask had a bit of an edge from losing to us last year so we knew they were going to come out hard and we had to come out even harder.”
The final was another defining moment for the Slash after Sudbury struck on the power play with 2:46 left in the first.
As for Auchenberg’s pep talk in between periods, “I said we played so well and so confident against Sask and it should be no different with Sudbury. They’re a good team, they come at you but because we scored a power play goal it doesn’t mean we have to all of a sudden be a little nervous,” he said. “I knew once the girls got their confidence and energy we would be tough to beat.”
The middle frame featured the first goals of the tournament for Anker, a defenceman, and power forward Mackenzie Kordic.
“Once we got that goal by Taylor, it was like, OK, we've got this, and then Kordic comes down and used the defenceman as a screen and snaps the puck like a bullet top shelf and I said to myself, 'We've got our mojo back,' ” Auchenberg said.
Anker, 18, wired the tying goal with 2:38 gone in the period with Willan and Isabelle Lajoie drawing assists.
“We had some good forechecking by Izzy and then Maddy got it on the wall and found me. She made a nice pass in the middle and I just shot it, and it went in. It was pretty exciting. The crowd was against us and it was kind of nice to get that momentum back,” Anker said. “Once we scored that one, we started rolling. Mackenzie scored the next goal which kind of kept us going for a bit and then she scored another one (in the third period) and we were kind of home free from there.
“We were really on a high after that.”
Kordic, 17 rose to the challenge with a blistering shot past netminder Mireille Kingsley, the tournament MVP, for the go-ahead goal at the 11:26 mark with assists going to Bronwyn Boucher and Anker.
“My linemate, Bronwyn, I owe that to her. She forechecked hard and just forced the defence to shoot it up the boards and I was just there fortunately to get it and I went down on the defence and I was kind of hoping for the best and I shot it as hard as I could and it went in,” Kordic said. “It was such a feeling of relief. We've been working so hard trying to get pucks to the net and when one finally goes in you feel amazing, especially to get up (2-1) in a game like that, it’s so important.”
Kordic’s insurance goal with 5:06 remaining was an opportunistic play around the crease during a Slash power play.
“I passed it to Maddy Willan and she passed it to Alli and she shot it and even if Alli shot it a little bit harder it would’ve probably gone in five hole and I kind of picked it up behind the goalie and tucked it in,” said the player of the game for the Slash, who ranked second behind Willan in goals in the regular season with 20 in 30 games.
“I just wanted to keep shooting and hope for the best and that really happened in the last game,” Kordic said. “I kind of had a rocky start like our whole team kind of did throughout the round robin. Really big goal opportunities weren’t going in so my coaches and my teammates were just telling me not to get done on myself and I just tried to say positive."
The empty netter by Ross, the team-high fifth goal of the tournament for the defenceman, in the last minute with Lajoie providing the assist kicked off the Slash celebration.
“We’re up 3-1 and once you get that empty net goal it's kind of like we did it. It was just chills. I’m pretty sure a few of us were tearing up. It was amazing. It was a surreal feeling,” Kordic said.
Sank turned aside 33 shots while Kingsley finished with 28 saves.
Sank, Anker, Lajoie, Willan and Makenna Schuttler are the original five Slash players with the first Alberta team to win the Esso Cup while also establishing the tournament record of seven wins and no losses and they are also among nine returnees from the first team to repeat.
“I’m super proud to be part of this dynasty that we created and I'm looking forward to see what the team can do in the next couple of years with all this momentum. Maybe the girls next year will come up on top again, which would be really nice to see,” Anker said.
