By WAYNE SHIELS
The Saskatoon Stars came home with a hard-earned silver medal from the Esso Cup Female U18AAA national championship held in Lloydminster last week.
This was the third medal the team has earned at the nationals, having won silver in 2018 and bronze in 2015.
Four former Warman Wildcats made significant contributions to the team’s success.
Reese Dyky (Warman) was a stalwart on defence and provided a strong net front presence on Stars power play opportunities.
Forwards Sadie Green (Martensville), Kolbee Ashe (Warman) and Ayla Anderson (Warman) contributed offensively on the scoresheet and defensively with strong back checking.
Green had four goals and six assists, Ashe had five goals and five assists. Anderson had two goals and two assists. She saved her best for last, earning Saskatoon’s Player of the Game with a goal and an assist in the championship game.
The six-team tournament was very competitive. Teams included the Western representative Saskatoon Stars, the host Lloydminster Steelers, the Pacific representative Edmonton Jr. Oilers, Ontario’s North York Storm, the Atlantic representatives Eastern Stars and Quebec’s Etoiles de Laurentides- Lanaudière.
The Stars won a 5-4 thriller in the tournament opener on Sunday, April 20 against the North York Storm. Saskatoon started off strong, firing 23 shots in the first period to come away with a 4-0 lead. Kolbee Ashe, Peyton Bernie, Mickenzie Petford, and Sadie Green all found the twine. North York battled back with a late second period goal and another early in the third period before Mikayla Broadfoot gave Saskatoon an additional insurance marker. It was needed, with the Storm scoring twice in the last five minutes of the game.
Game two on Monday was a 5-2 loss to Étoiles de Laurentides-Lanaudière. After a scoreless first period, Maika Gauthier’s natural hat trick had the Quebec representatives up by three. Saskatoon responded with goals by Halle Duchene and Sadie Green before the end of the second period. The Etoiles added a pair of late third period goals to seal the win.
The Stars took the preliminary round leaders the Edmonton Jr. Oilers to the limit in game three before losing 4-3 in shootouts. Scoring for the Stars were Kolbee Ashe, Danelle Steffin and Halle Duchene.
In game four Ayla Anderson, Sadie Green and Claire Moorman scored to give the Stars a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes, but three unanswered goals by the host Lloydminster Steelers sent the game into overtime, where Skylar Heinrichs won it for the home team.
Saskatoon closed out its preliminary schedule Thursday with a dominant 8-1 win over the Eastern Stars clinching the second seed in the playoff round.. The Eastern Stars got on the board first but Saskatoon took the game over from there, led by hat tricks from Halle Duchene and Kolbee Ashe with singles by Mikayla Broadfoot and Shayla Koroll. Sadie Green had three assists and Ayla Anderson chipped in with a helper.
They advanced to the championship game with a 3-2 win over the North York Storm in Friday’s semi-final. Mikayla Broadfoot had a pair of goals while Sadie Green contributed a goal and an assist in the win.
The Stars faced a juggernaut squad in the Edmonton Jr. Oilers in the final. The Oilers were undefeated in tournament play and had only lost one game all year, and that loss was in overtime. Saskatoon battled hard all game in a 7-3 loss.
The Oilers got off to an early 3-0 lead aided by a pair of powerplay goals.
Saskatoon responded. Halle Duchene fired in a rebound before the end of the first period to get the Stars on the board. The goal was set up by a nice rush to gain the Oilers zone by Ayla Anderson.
Anderson drew Saskatoon to within one goal, taking a pass at the faceoff circle and ripping a wrist shot into the back of the net 38 seconds into the second period.
The Oilers were not going to be denied, however. Another power play marker tipped the momentum in their favour and was the start of four unanswered goals to finish out the second period.
Saskatoon’s Avery Barry netted the only goal in the third period.
Ontario representative North York Storm took the bronze medal game 4-1 over the Lloydminster Steelers.