Bears edge Stars in marquee SFMAAAHL showdown

Bears goalie Ryan Fontaine tracks the action around her net.

    PRINCE ALBERT – Jeff Willoughby didn’t want any doubt to linger in his players’ heads, when it came to taking on the Saskatoon Stars.

    So far this season, the head coach of the Prince Albert Northern Bears saw his side fall three times in regulation to the Stars. On Wednesday night at the Art Hauser Centre, the Bears, who are the defending Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League champions, pulled out a 2-1 victory in a tight checking battle with their biggest rival.

    “It means more than the three points in the standings,” said Willoughby. “It gives confidence for the girls.

Goalie Arden Kliewer makes a stop for the Stars.

    “We’ve play everybody up until this point, all seven other teams. Heading into playoffs, I’ve seen it happen before where a team hasn’t had success against another team and it spills over to the playoffs. Getting this win for us is huge.”

    The victory gives the Bears some breathing room on the Stars with regards to the race for first place in the SFMAAAHL standings. The Bears improved to 17-3 to sit in top spot with the win and hold an 11-point edge over the second place Stars, who fell to 14-2.

    Prince Albert has recorded all its wins in regulation time for 51 standings points, while Saskatoon has 40 standings points recorded on 12 regulation victories and two overtime wins. The Stars, who have topped the SFMAAAHL standings in each of the past three seasons, have four games in hand on the Bears.

Captain Hannah Koroll had two assists for the Bears.

    In Wednesday’s clash, the two sides entered the third period locked in a 0-0 tie. Arden Kliewer turned away 17 shots over the first two frames for the Stars, while Ryan Fontaine stopped 14 shots over the opening 40 minutes for the Bears.

    Tough as nails 17-year-old Bears defender Jordan Ashe was pleased with how her side handed the Stars vast number of high flying forwards like captain Mackenna Parker, Grace Shirley, Anna Leschyshyn and Joelle Fiala.

    “I think we did pretty good,” said Ashe. “I think we need to work on our head manning the puck, (and) being more firm on the blue-line making sure we don’t fumble pucks.

    “Overall, we were pretty solid. (Bears captain) Hannah (Koroll) was really solid as well.”

    Koroll ultimately picked up helpers on both Bears goals.

    At the 3:07 mark of the third, the Bears went ahead 1-0, when 14-year-old rookie forward Rhea Peterson flipped home the puck into the Saskatoon goal over top of Kliewer.

    With 7:22 to play in the third, the Bears capitalized on another break to go ahead 2-0 after killing off a Stars power play. Kliewer mishandled the puck resulting in a goal from Bears forward Alli Soyko.

Joelle Fiala (#27) scored the Stars lone goal on Wednesday.

    Saskatoon came with a hard push back. With 5:44 to play in the third, Fiala scored on the power play to cut the Bears lead to 2-1.

    Shirley thought she collected the equalizer during a net scramble with 1:37 to play in the third, but the officials waved off her goal saying she knocked the puck into the Prince Albert net with a high stick.
    Inside of the final minute of the third, Stars defender Chace Sperling wired a shot off the crossbar of the Prince Albert goal to just miss netting the equalize for Saskatoon.

    Fontaine made 22 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Bears. Kliewer turned away 20 shots to take the setback in goal for the Stars.

    Ashe said she like the atmosphere in her team’s dressing room, when the Bears were getting ready before the game.

Defender Jordan Ashe played her 100th regular season game for the Bears.

    She believes her side did a good job in not getting over-hyped to play the Stars and came with the same approach they would for any opponent.

    “In all honesty, it is not a big difference,” said Ashe. “We need to treat them like everyone else and not put extra expectations on top of that.”

    Overall, Willoughby thought this fourth and final meeting between the two sides in the 2017-18 regular season would be a competitive one, and the veteran bench boss said both sides delivered a tight contest.  

    “I thought there was a lot of back and forth play, not a high shot amount,” said Willoughby. “There was lots of blocked shots. There was lots of tight checking.

    “Those teams were tight gap all over the place, and that is what we expected. It was just a battle back and forth. Our second goal came with good timing.”

Defender Chace Sperling just missed scoring the equalizer for the Stars.

    Both teams now have to wait a bit for their next respective regular season games.

The Stars return to action on Jan. 6 in the new year, when they travel to Wilcox, Sask., to face the Notre Dame Hounds (10-3).

    The Bears head to Calgary for the prestigious Mac’s Tournament, which begins this coming Tuesday. They return to regular season play on Jan. 13 in the new year, when they travel to Melville to face the Prairie Fire (7-11).

    100-CLUB – A combined four players in Wednesday’s contest hit the ice for their 100^th career SFMAAAHL regular season game. Ashe and forward Abby Soyko played their 100^th career regular season games with the Bears, while forward Jordyn Gerlitz skated in her 100^th career regular season contest with the Stars.

The Bears celebrate their 2-1 victory over the Stars.

    Stars forward Jayda Sachs also played her 100^th career regular season game, and her total included making 56 appearances with the Bears in her first two campaigns in the league.

    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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