Stars’ Parker bangs home tally #75, sits second in career SFMAAAHL goals

Mackenna Parker (#11) celebrates her 75th career regular season goal.

    Mackenna Parker’s 100^th career Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League regular season game turned into a bigger major milestone night.

    On Thursday at the Agriplace Arena, the 17-year-old captain of the Saskatoon Stars captured another lofty career league accomplishment. With the Stars holding a 4-3 lead over the visiting Battlefords Sharks, Parker banged home a goal in front of the visiting net to put her squad up 5-3 at the 3:26 mark of the third period.

    That tally was Parker’s 75 career regular season goal, and it allowed her to sit alone in second on the SFMAAAHL’s all-time career regular season goals list. Saskatoon product Alyssa Wiebe, who played for the Notre Dame Hounds in the SFMAAAHL’s first two campaigns of existence from 2006 to 2008, now sits third on the SFMAAAHL’s all-time career regular season goals list with 74 tallies.

Stars captain Mackenna Parker (#11) battles a Sharks player.

    Parker’s goal on Thursday sparked a surge that allowed the Stars to skate away with a 7-3 victory.

    The Clavet product was pleasantly surprised to hear she now sat alone in second place on the SFMAAAHL’s career regular season goals list.

    “I think it is amazing,” said Parker, who stands 5-foot-5. “It is nice to know that all my work has paid off.

    “It is my teammates too over the past four years. It is not just me that is putting in the work, so yeah, it is an amazing feeling.

    “I just kept banging on it in front of the net. I got my own rebound. It is pretty much what happened.”

    The skilled centre’s night got off to an upbeat start. She picked up assists on the Stars first two goals coming from the sticks of 14-year-old rookie Calli Arnold and 17-year-old veteran Jordyn Holmes to give the host side a 2-0 first period lead.

Mackenna Parker sets up to shoot a backhanded shot.

    Thanks to the three-point night, Parker has piled up 26 goals and 25 assists in the current campaign for 51 points to become the second player in the history of the Stars to score 50-or-more points in one regular season.

    Emily Clark, who is playing for Canada’s women’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics that are just starting in PyeongChang, South Korea, is the only other player to score more points for the Stars in one regular season than Parker. Clark piled up 26 goals and 34 assists in 26 regular season games for the Stars in the 2011-12 campaign.

    “It is so cool,” said Parker about doing something only Clark had done with the Stars. “I don’t even know.

    “It is so amazing. It is my goal to be the best that I can be, and it is nice to know that is paying off.”

    Earlier this season, Parker became the SFMAAAHL’s second all-time career leading scorer in the regular season. She has 74 career assists to go with her 75 career goals to total 149 points.

    With four games remaining in her regular season career at the midget AAA level, she is way out of range to jump into the top spot for career regular season goals or points in the SFMAAAHL.

Mackenna Parker has scored 51 points so far this season.

    Moose Jaw product Olivia Howe, who played 106 career regular season contests over four seasons with the Hounds from 2008 to 2012, is the SFMAAAHL’s all-time career leader in regular season goals (107), assists (100) and points (207).

    In what has been a memorable current campaign, Parker played for Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Under-18 Women’s World Championship that wrapped up Jan. 13 in Dmitrov, Russia. Parker helped Canada win a bronze medal, and she was joined on the Canadian squad by current Stars teammate Grace Shirley and former stars teammate Willow Slobodzian, who plays for the Cornell University Big Red women’s hockey team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ranks.

    “It is an amazing feeling to go to Russia,” said Parker. “It is a once in a lifetime experience, so I have to take it in.

Grace Shirley scored a pair of goals for the Stars.

    “It was so much fun. It was so nice knowing that I had friends with me by my side the entire time and making friends there too. I am so glad that they (Shirley and Slobodzian) were both able to go.”

    The Sharks stayed tight with the Stars for much of Thursday’s contest. Sharks forward Ensley Fendelet scored on the power play before first period ended to cut the Stars lead to 2-1.

    Early in the second, Joelle Fiala tallied for the Stars to increase their edge to 3-1, but Sharks defender Cassidy Carlson fired home a goal with 7:27 remaining in the second to cut Saskatoon’s advantage to 3-2. Shirley scored on a backhand shot with 9.3 seconds remaining in the second to give the Stars a 4-2 lead.

    Defender Keera Tiringer tallied for the Sharks 92 seconds into the third to trim the Stars edge to 4-3.

    Parker scored a short time later to put the Stars up 5-3. Saskatoon’s scoring was rounded out by a single from Kaitlin Jockims and Shirley’s second tally of the contest.

    Arden Kliewer made 16 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Stars. Chloe Burt turned away 38 shots to take the setback in goal for the Sharks.
    Centre Kianna Dietz played her in 100th career SFMAAAHL regular season contest with the Stars on Thursday picking up one assist.

Calli Arnold (#9) scored the Stars first goal on Thursday.

    “I think we came out maybe a bit slow in the first and second,” said Parker. “We can’t take teams for granted either.

    “We have to keep going. I think in the third that is when we started to go, and that is what paid off on the scoreboard.”

    The Stars improved to 20-3-1 to move into first place in the SFMAAAHL with 58 points in the standings to hold a one-point edge over the Prince Albert Northern Bears (19-4-1). In the SFMAAAHL, three points are awarded in the standings for regulation wins, two points for extra time wins and one point for extra time setbacks.

    The Stars, who had won six straight, earned their 58 points from 17 regulation wins, three extra time victories and one extra time setback. The Bears have 57 points in the standings coming off 18 regulation wins, one extra time win and one extra time setback.

The Stars celebrate a goal and moved into first in the SFMAAAHL.

    Both teams have four games remaining on their respective regular season schedules.

    Parker enters her team’s final four regular season contests needing to record one point for 150 in her regular season career. She is also two goals away from equaling the Stars team record for goals in one regular season at 28, which was set by Sara Greschner in the 2010-11 campaign.

    The Stars return to action on Saturday, when they host the Regina Rebels (16-6-3) at 7:45 p.m. at the Agriplace Arena.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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