The St. Albert Ron Hodgson Slash are poised to leave their mark of greatness with an historic repeat performance at the Esso Cup.
“We have the potential to create a great legacy in St. Albert so that’s really exciting for us,” said netminder Camryn Drever of the defending national midget AAA female champions. “If we can grab another gold medal at Esso that would be amazing.”
The Slash are the team to beat at the 10th annual Esso Cup, April 21 to 29 in Bridgewater, N.S., after edging the Greater Vancouver Comets 1-0 Sunday in the third and deciding game in the Pacific Regional in Richmond, B.C.
Last year the Slash swept the Comets 2-0 and 3-2 in St. Albert.
The Slash are 28-10-1 in the Alberta Female Hockey League, provincial playoffs and Pacific Regional after going 38-4-1 overall last season.
“We have a bit of a target on our back because we are the defending national champs but I think we’ve handled that well. In all the games we’ve risen to the occasion and I think we can do it again,” said Drever, one of 10 returnees from the first Alberta team to win the Esso Cup. “We know exactly what to expect. It’s a playoff run, it’s a grind and we’ll be able to help the first years through that together as a team.”
The Northern Selects (Atlantic), Saskatoon Stars (West), Brampton Canadettes (Ontario) and the host Metro Boston Pizza of Bedford, N.S. have also been confirmed for the six-team nationals.
The Slash set a tournament record by going undefeated in seven games at Morden, Man., and the 1-0 final was decided in overtime on Tyra Meropoulis’ golden goal against Harfangs du Triolet of Sherbrooke, Que.
“It’s a really fast-paced game at Esso. Lots of intensity, lots of battles and it’s a grind. The players are fantastic with great skill mentally and physically and we’re all fit,” Drever said. “The harder the game it just comes down to who wants it more.”
The Slash were not to be denied in their quest for back-to-back Esso Cups as sniper Madison Willan scored and Taylor Anker assisted on the winner in the third period and Drever stopped 13 shots by the Comets with a trip to nationals at stake.
“It was definitely in my opinion our best game of the weekend. Everybody was battling hard. The season was on the line for both teams and I think that really hit home for us third years especially because we didn’t want to end our season off at Pacifics. We wanted to make it to Esso so that helped us dominate the game a little bit,” Drever said.
Shots were 13-10 Slash after 40 minutes as the winners finished with a game-high 23.
Willan’s goal set the stage for the cliffhanger of a finish.
“I think it was about the 10-minute mark that she scored so we still had a lot of time left to play. It was a bit of a scramble goal and I think she just put the puck in low glove side,” Drever said. “After that the team kind of settled down. It took a bit of the weight off our shoulders and we played more defensively for sure. We wanted to secure the game and the win.”
Drever slammed the door shut after Willan’s marker for fifth shutout of the season.
“They didn’t have too many shots but I think the chances that they got were pretty solid. They had one semi breakaway and one back door play but other than that it was quite tame,” Drever said. “It really helped that my forwards and defence blocked a lot of shots for me so I don’t think I would’ve got a shutout without them.”
Drever, 17, was also between the pipes as the teams split 4-2 decisions.
“The first game coming out we were super confident and we maybe started the second game a little flat footed, maybe not expecting them to come out as hard as they did so I think we really picked that up in the third game,” Drever said.
In game one, the Slash trailed 2-1 after two periods before turning on the gas. Meropoulis finished with a pair, Willan also tallied and Shyla Kirwer’s shorthanded effort closed out the scoring.
The next game the Comets – 29-2-1 in the regular season and 4-0 in the playoffs before the Pacific Regional – struck three times on 13 shots in the first to lead 3-0. In the third, Meropoulis on the penalty kill and Jayme Doyle with eight minutes left closed the gap before the Comets sealed the deal with an empty netter.
“We had a bad first period (down 3-0) in the second game but then we picked it up and unfortunately there wasn’t enough time left in the game to pot another one to tie it,” said Drever.
The recipient of the top netminder award at nationals with four shutouts while giving up one goal in five games has been a defensive gem this season while an AFHL-leading 1.34 GAA.
Drever was also rock solid in the Final Frozen Four provincial final with a game-high 34 saves as the Slash pulled off a dramatic 3-2 overtime thriller against the first-place Rocky Mountain Raiders. Willan’s equalizer forced sudden death with seven seconds left in regulation time and after the Slash killed off a two-minute five-on-three power play McKenzie Hewett’s golden goal with the man advantage at 11:05 of the extra period capped off the comeback.
"I believe I've had the same season as last year and I'm hoping to continue that throughout the Esso Cup,” said the Grade 12 Ross Sheppard High School student who has committed to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the fall. “It all comes from the team playing in front of me. They’re battling in the defensive zone and that for sure helps me out. My mental game has also been getting stronger and that helps me through a lot of adversity and I think that will help me in the future as well."
