The St. Albert Slash returned home from Grande Prairie with three points for their efforts last weekend against a team lower than them in the standings.
The visitors notched a 6-1 win and settled for a 4-4 tie against the Storm (5-17-6).
“To still get three out of four points was important,” said Terry Sydor, head coach of the second-place Slash (12-9-8) in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League’s north division. “There were lots of good things. The players were pretty tight and supporting each other. Sometimes you have a weekend series with players that perform below expectations. I think we fortunately had more players playing above expectations.”
Slash captain Melissa Kueber, who arrived literally just before game time Saturday after writing her SATs at the University of Alberta, notched the hat trick and added an assist. Sabrina Flemming, Tegan Rose and Krystal Reithmayer also scored in the win.
The Slash were minus Karly Heffernan, who was training with Hockey Alberta. Michelle Tassone and Taryn McCormick missed the entire weekend studying for their Grade 12 provincial exams.
With 2:44 to go Vaila Higson broke Emily Mitchell’s shutout bid. Shots were 48-15 as St. Albert shelled goalie Kiersten Giesbrecht.
“We kind of had to weather the storm early, no pun intended,” Sydor said. “They came at us hard and we sort of battled through it and got momentum. Once we started scoring, they got frustrated and started taking penalties. They self-destructed.”
The Slash didn't see the same lopsidedness Sunday despite outshooting the home team 36-25.
“We talked before the game to not take it for granted. They came out hard again. Again, it was special teams. This time they scored shorthanded early,” Sydor said. “You have success and sometimes think you're pretty darn good. Well sometimes you're pretty darn fortunate too.”
Flemming scored twice and Kueber and Reithmayer notched singles.
“Flemming, who we kind of look to as more a role player, had three great goals [last weekend] that were just looking at the net and letting it rip,” said Sydor, who watched his big gunners misfire when presented with golden opportunities to score Sunday. “Kueber had a couple of breaks and tried an extra move and it didn't work out. Then, with 30 seconds left, [Jessica] Kampjes had a breakaway. She made a great read to pick off the puck between defenders and the leading scorer on the team over-thinks it and misses.”
With three games remaining before the playoffs, the Slash and the Lloydminster Steelers (12-10-6) are battling for second spot and a first-round bye. The Border City team is two points back of St. Albert with a game in hand. That could be a crucial difference as the two squads play each other in the last game of the season for the Slash on Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. at Performance Arena.
Before then the Slash have home games this weekend against south division opponents. They host the Calgary Chaos (11-11-6) today at 4 p.m. and the Calgary Flyers (19-3-6), the top team in the south, at 12:45 p.m. Sunday at Performance.
The Slash beat the Chaos at the Mac's but lost 3-1 at home in their first game back from the Calgary tournament.
The Flyers will be looking for redemption as they fell 6-2 to the Slash in the Mac's final Jan. 1.
