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| Anna Leschyshyn, right, lifts the Fedoruk Cup, while Ashley Messier cheers. |
On Tuesday, the Stars were looking to sweep the best-of-five
Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Championship series in a Game 3 clash against
the Regina Rebels at Merlis Belsher Place. The host Stars seemed to start a little
slow coming out of the gate, and the Rebels held a slight edge in play holding
a 10-8 edge in shots on goal over the first 20 minutes.
At that point, the Stars hit another gear.
Just nine seconds into the second period, Stars star veteran
winger Anna Leschyshyn blew home a power-play goal to the top corner of the
Regina goal to give the Stars a 1-0 advantage.
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| Anna Leschyshyn had the Stars first goal on Tuesday. |
Saskatoon responded with two goals before the second frame
ended to go up 3-1 and cruised to a 3-2 victory.
With the win, the Stars swept the SFMAAAHL title series 3-0 and captured the Fedoruk Cup as league
champions for the fourth time in the last five years.
“It is obviously
really special,” said Stars veteran captain Grace Shirley. “We’ve kind of been
working for this ever since the beginning of the season.
“It is really
awesome that we could get the win. It is pretty special, because it is my last
year. I kind of wanted to go out of the league on a winning note.
 |
| Neena Brick scored for the Rebels on Tuesday. |
When the Rebels
evened the game up at 1-1, the Stars didn’t get rattled. They controlled the
majority of the play for the rest of the contest.
At the 4:12 mark of the
second, Shirley put the Stars ahead 2-1 when her seemingly innocent backhand
shot had eyes and found its way past Rebels netminder Chantel Weller.
Shirley said her
goal was a lucky one, but despite the luck, her team found its edge offensively.
“I think started
just like playing our game offensively and getting shots and chances,” said
Shirley. “Once we started to do that, they started to go in for us, so it was
good.”
 |
| Captain Grace Shirley had a goal for the Stars on Tuesday. |
The Rebels were held
to just two shots on goal in the third period, but one of those shots resulted
in a goal from veteran 17-year-old forward Samantha Sichkaruk that cut the
Stars lead to 3-2 with 8:50 remaining in the frame.
During the dying
seconds of the third, the Rebels had a huge chance to tie the game, but a final
desperate shot by Brick from in close on the left side of the Saskatoon goal
went just wide of its mark.
Rookie Stars forward
Haylee Kos, who turned 15-years-old in early February, said her team’s
confidence was still high even after the Rebels closed to within 3-2.
“There was a little
bit of nervousness, because we got so close,” said Kos. “I think we all had
some pretty good composure.
 |
| Sydney Pedersen brings the puck up ice for the Rebels. |
When the third
period clock hit zero, Kos said she screamed and jumped over the boards as fast
as she could to celebrate with her teammates. She said this was a dream moment during
her journey in her rookie campaign.
“It is absolutely
incredible,” said Kos. “It was a little bit chaotic at first adjusting to
everything, but I think once I got used to it, it was one of the best
experiences of my life.”
Arden Kliewer made
15 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Stars. Weller turned away 24 shots
to take the setback in net for the Rebels.
Saskatoon finished first
in the SFMAAAHL regular season with a 27-1 mark, which was the best record the
team ever posted in regular season play. Regina was second with a 17-7-4
record.
 |
| The Stars begin celebrating their SFMAAAHL title win. |
The Stars claimed the league crown in 2015, 2016 and last season. He said it is always special to finish as the top team in the province and that all of the Stars SFMAAAHL championship victories had equal meaning.
“They are all great,”
said Slobodzian. “This one is really nice, because you’re with this group of
girls for so long, like the other ones too.
“We’ve got a pretty
big graduating class this year. We’ve got some young girls here that I am so
happy that they get a chance to experience this. They are all great.
 |
| The crowd at Merlis Belsher Place salutes the Stars for their title win. |
The Stars will now
host the Manitoba female midget AAA champion Westman Wildcats from Hartney in a
best-of-three Western regional playdown series. The dates and times of that
series are still to be announced. It is expected the series will start around
April 5.
The winner of that
series advances to the Esso Cup female midget AAA national championship tournament
to be held April 21 to 27 in Sudbury, Ont.
 |
| The Stars pose for the traditional team championship photo. |
Shirley is pumped to
get the chance to play in another regional playdown series.
“It is awesome,”
said Shirley. “I think any time you get to play more games it is good.
“I think we are just
going to keep getting better and see where that takes us.”
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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