Depth of Saskatoon’s female midget AAA squad
shines through
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| Mackenna Parker gets set to drive home a goal for the Stars. |
The Saskatoon Stars are trying to emulate the 1989-90
Edmonton Oilers by showing they still have a great team despite the loss of
their superstars.
Back in the 1989-90 NHL campaign, the Oilers ventured on a
surprising run that saw them capture their fifth Stanley Cup title. At the
time, that victory was supposed to be unthinkable, because two years early they
traded the icon of all hockey icons in Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings.
When Gretzky was dealt, many believed a very long time would
pass before the Oilers would every again win the Stanley Cup. By winning it all
in 1990, the Oilers proved they were still a great team.
The Stars female midget AAA team entered the 2015-16
campaign with two crippling superstar departures. Gone were forwards Sophie
Shirley and Nara Elia who left to play their 16-year-old seasons with the Notre
Dame Hounds club that plays out of the Junior Women’s Hockey League, which is made
up of prep school teams.
As 15-year-old sophomores with the Stars in 2014-15, Shirley
and Elia were the two most exciting players in the Saskatchewan Female Midget
AAA Hockey League. Elia topped the league in scoring with 23 goals and 17
assists, and Shirley, who was named the league’s most valuable player, was
second in the scoring race with 22 goals and 17 assists.
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| Anna Leschyshyn cuts hard to the net for a Stars scoring chance. |
While five players from that team exhausted their
eligibility after playing out their 17-year-old seasons, one had to think the
Stars would do great things in 2015-16 returning a great core of players.
Shirley, who was recently named to Canada’s under-18 team for the women’s worlds
in January, and Elia would have been the jewels among the returnees. Their
presence alone would have made the Stars huge favourites to hang a few more
banners at the Agriplace Arena.
When Shirley and Elia departed to Wilcox, Sask., one had to
wonder if the Stars would fall back to the pack with the rest of the teams of
the SFMAAAHL.
It looked that way for a very short time at first. The Stars
opened the regular season falling 3-1 to the Prairie Fire in Melville on Oct.
3. After that setback, they proceeded to win their next 15 straight regular
season games.
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| Defender Willow Slobodzian is arguably the Stars most exciting player. |
Heading into Saturday’s action, 15-year-old forward Mackenna
Parker has netted 10 goals and 11 assists in 13 games to sit in a tie with
Chloe Smith of the Swift Current Wildcats for top spot in the SFMAAAHL scoring
race. In her sophomore season, Parker has already surpassed her assists and
points totals from a season ago.
Grace Shirley, who is Sophie’s younger sister, sits third in
league scoring with 11 goals and six assists as an underage 14-year-old rookie.
While Parker and Grace Shirley have put up the biggest
numbers, the Stars are getting solid production spread out through the rest of
their team.
The Stars most exciting player is arguably Willow
Slobodzian, who is a smooth skating, puck moving offensive defender. She was
spectacular as a 14-year-old rookie last season quarterbacking the power play
netting six goals and 13 assists in 28 games. The Clavet product has been
better this year netting two goals and 10 assists, while seemingly seeing a
game that is three to four steps ahead of anyone on the ice.
Emma Johnson is back for her third season between the pipes
as a 16-year-old, and she still possesses the ability to steal a game. She has
posted a 7-1 record, a 1.12 goals against average, a .955 save percentage and
two shutouts.
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| Emma Johnson has been consistently stellar in goal for the Stars. |
Included in that group of six is a rookie with a familiar last name in
Saskatoon hockey circles in Anna Leschyshyn, whose father and team assistant
coach Curtis had a lengthy playing career in the NHL. As a 14-year-old rookie,
Anna, who stands 5-foot-10, has eight goals and six assists.
Grace Shirley and Anna Leschyshyn both suited up with the
Stars last season as associate player call ups.
From Dec. 10 to 13, the Stars were invited down to the Mandi
Schwartz Memorial Tournament in Wilcox, Sask., which contained 16 very strong
female midget AAA teams and JWHL squads. The Stars opened by blanking the
defending JWHL champion Warner Hockey School Warriors 2-0. Saskatoon beat
Edmonton’s St. Francis X-treme 5-2 before closing round robin action with a 2-0
setback to the Westman Wildcats from Hartney, Man.
The Stars split their two consolation playoff games falling
1-0 to Northern Capitals of Prince George, B.C., and slipping past Winnipeg’s
Balmoral Hall 3-2 in overtime.
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| Grace Shirley has lit up the scoreboard for the Stars. |
They will still face some tough competition in their league,
which includes traveling to Prince Albert for Saturday and Sunday clashes with
the 13-5 A & W Bears. The Stars swept the Bears in last season’s SFMAAAHL
best-of-five title series.
With all that in mind, the Stars keep proving game in and
game out they still have a great team without their two superstar talents from
a season ago. They might just find a way to win another SFMAAAHL title and
maybe make another appearance in the Esso Cup.
If you have any
comments you would like pass along about this blog post, feel free to email
them to stankssports@gmail.com.
