NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
South Alberta Hockey Academy forward Brianna Finke eyes up the goalie in the third period of SAHA's 5-0 win Monday morning against the Pilot Mound Hockey Academy at Big Marble Go Centre.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The South Alberta Hockey Academy U18 female prep squad continued its hot start to the season, remaining undefeated in regulation this weekend.
The SAHA women’s team lost to RHA Winnipeg 4-3 in the shootout Sunday before shutting out Pilot Mound HA Monday morning – both games at Big Marble Go Centre – giving them a record of 9-0-1 to start their CSSHL season.
Head coach Evan Vossen attributed the strong start to being a returning club and noted the work they’ve put in early in the year.
“We’re obviously happy with the way things have turned out. We knew we had a lot of returning girls, we have 17,” Vossen said. “So the familiarity of those pieces with our group I thought would hopefully get us off to a good start. I don’t know if I thought it’d be as strong as it is but we’ll take it and we’ll just continue to work and try to force ourselves to keep this up.”
In Sunday’s loss to RHA Winnipeg, Keira Grant and Brianna Finke each had a goal and an assist and Kiyra Kletzel had SAHA’s third goal. Devyn Amundson made 31 saves.
Against Pilot Mound, Kendal Davidson had a goal and an assist and Finke, Emerson Baugh, Kletzel and Natalie Gurr each had a goal. Maddy Ferguson was between the pipes for the 11-save shutout, her first of the season. Ferguson, a Medicine Hat product, says it was exciting to play at home in front of friends and family again and be an example in the city.
“Being at home with lots of fans and everybody to watch it felt really, really good to be able to put the zero up,” Ferguson said. “It’s really awesome, especially all the young girls being able to see it, to have been able to grow up and see me move through the hockey here in Medicine Hat, it’s really exciting.”
Ferguson and Amundson have been almost perfect for SAHA in net this season, each contributing a shutout and having goals against averages below 1.80 and save percentages above .930.
“I’m very glad to have her as a partner,” Ferguson said. “We’ve been together a couple years now, so it’s really nice and she’s very supportive.”
On top of the strong goaltending, SAHA has been led offensively by forward Tea Pearce with seven goals and 14 points in seven games and Davidson who has put up five goals and nine points in nine games on defence.
Davidson, who was named as a finalist for the CSSHL’s top female defenceman last season after putting up 11 goals and 19 points in 25 games. She says the strong start to the year has been better than expected and is looking to build off of her year last season.
“This isn’t what I expected and I’m so happy that this is the way it’s going, it’s really been really great,” Davidson said.
“I’m taking last year as my base foundation for this year and I’m just working up from there and seeing what I can do this year.”
After the weekend at home, the SAHA women’s team heads back on the road for four games this weekend starting Thursday and running through Sunday. They’ll face RHA Kelowna, Delta Hockey Academy, Edge School and RHA Kelowna.
“We’re going to skate Tuesday, Wednesday, and then we play Thursday at 8 (p.m.). So we’ll probably just make sure that everybody’s fresh as we can do, maybe give some some work to some of those structure pieces just to make sure that we have those ready to go for the weekend,” Vossen said.
Even though they like waking up in their own beds, Davidson says they’re already looking forward to another trip.
“They’re so fun, there’s nothing better than being away for a weekend with the team in a hotel having fun.”
SAHA men’s team sweeps weekend
The SAHA U18 men’s team took both of their road games over the weekend, beating the Notre Dame Hounds 15-2 on Saturday before taking a close 5-4 overtime contest against Prairie Hockey Academy on Sunday.
In Saturday’s bloated win, SAHA was led offensively by Noah Dziver who had five goals and an assist and Gavin McKenna, who had three goals and two assists. Kade Duell notched a goal and an assist, Nick McLennan added a goal and two assists and Nathan Hawkins, Brett Calhoon and Ryan Miller each had a goal and an assist.
Kadon McCann and Nate Corbet each added a goal of their own and Sammy Hynes added four helpers. Ethan McCallum turned aside 18 shots for the win.
Dziver kept the offence flowing on Sunday as he notched two goals and two assists against Prairie HA. McKenna had two goals and two assists and Duell added a goal and an assist in the overtime victory, with the winning goal coming off the stick of Dziver who had a 10-point weekend. McCallum stopped 30 shots in the OT win.
The SAHA men’s team (6-1-1) is also on the road this weekend for a three-game set against Edge School, RHA Winnipeg and Northern Alberta Xtreme.
