The St. Albert Raiders let two points slip away in Monday’s game against the Canadian national women’s hockey team.
Team Canada outscored the midget AAA team 3-1 in the third period to salvage a 3-3 draw inside a jam-packed Northstar Hyundai Arena.
“It was pretty awesome playing the best (women’s) team in Canada and coming that close to winning was great experience,” said forward Jason Miller, the Raiders’ game star with two goals and a wicked shootout marker.
Games between Team Canada and Alberta Midget AAA Hockey League teams count in the standings.
There is no overtime or shootouts in the AMHL, but to the delight of more than 2,100 in attendance the teams played five minutes of scoreless sudden-death action and in the shootout Team Canada came out on top 2-1.
“It’s an honour to play against the best females in all of Canada. It was a cool experience and I’m glad to be a part of it,” said netminder Pat Dea. “They’re a good club. Hopefully they do well in the Olympics.”
Miller opened the scoring in the first period against netminder Charline Labonte, with linemates Ethan Lazaro and Matt McNeil drawing assists.
In the third, 15 seconds after Team Canada got on the board, Miller went top shelf for his third goal of the season to make it 3-1 with 10:03 to play.
“The first one was a little bit greasy. (Lazaro’s shot) kind of went off the back of her and I kind of cleaned up,” said Miller, who poked the puck from outside the blue paint. “The second one I put upstairs. I couldn’t do much more than that.”
The Raiders’ second goal was Nicholas Sutter’s low point shot on the power play in period two.
Pat Gora started in net and was replaced by Dea midway through the second and the shots were 16-12 for Team Canada.
The shot count grew to 38-20 after 60 minutes and 43-21 after the five minute four-on-four overtime period.
“The shots were not as fast as the ones I’m used to facing. It sort of throws you off a bit, sort of like a changeup in baseball,” Dea said. “Their puck movement was top notch. They got me moving side to side and I got lost a couple of times.”
Team Canada elevated its game to new heights in the third and scored three times in a four-minute span.
Penalties and fatigue also caught up to the Raiders. They were assessed six minors in total, including three in the third and two in overtime, compared to two minors for Team Canada.
“They’ve been training for so long,” Miller noted of Team Canada’s fitness level. “We got a little bit run down at the end but it’s no excuse for us. We also got into some penalty trouble and that was just laziness.”
Meghan Agosta-Marciano’s second goal knotted the score at three during a five-on-three power play with 6:12 to play. She finished off some tremendous passing plays around Dea before the first minor expired. “I kind of cheated a little bit on the one end on that goal,” Dea said.
There is no body checking in women’s hockey and the Raiders struggled with their physicality in the third as Team Canada poured on the pressure.
“Every guy out there is battling and when there is maybe a couple of soft calls by the officiating it’s tough. We’re playing the best that we can and something like that happens it ends up costing us two points,” said Dea (3-1-1, 2.00 GAA), a Team Alberta U16 goalie.
In the shootout Miller sent the water bottle flying by going upstairs on Labonte.
“I have two (shootout) moves. The other one was a little bit too fancy so I kept it simple,” said the Raiders’ designated captain for the game.
Dea, 16, was also undressed by defenceman Meaghan Mikkelson in the shootout with a move that sent the water bottle spinning on top of the net. The goal by the St. Albert Olympian tied it at one apiece.
“It was definitely a good shot so credit to her. This is her hometown so I’m sure some of her family was out watching,” said the Grade 11 St. Albert Catholic High School student.
The second-largest crowd to ever watch a hockey game at Servus Credit Union Place was pro Team Canada and several were wearing Mikkelson’s No. 12 jersey.
“It was really nerve-wracking at the beginning but as soon as you got those first few strides out there you started feeling better and the butterflies went away,” said Miller, 17, a Grade 12 Spruce Grove Composite High School student.
The Raiders are now 5-3-2 after the tie in regulation time. Monday’s effort was far superior to Saturday’s showing in the 3-2 loss to the Canadian Athletic Club (5-4-1) in St. Albert. The CAC scored twice in the second to lead 3-1. Parker Aucoin and Lazaro tallied. Shots were 27-24 for the Raiders and Gora (2-2-1, 1.45 GAA) was in net.
“That wasn’t good. We didn’t show up to play hockey,” Miller said. “Lots of guys were looking past the game at hand and that kind of got in their heads.”
The Raiders, 3-3 in one-goal games, are tied with the Red Deer Chiefs (6-1-1) as the AMHL’s No. 1 defensive team with 17 against.
Offensively, however, the Raiders rank near the bottom among north division teams with 25 goals. Their top gun is Lazaro with seven.
“We only have a few guys putting the puck into the net right now,” said Miller, the 2013 recipient of the Brian Sutter Award as the AMHL’s top defensive forward.
