The legacy of greatness of the St. Albert Ron Hodgson Slash continued as back-to-back Esso Cup national champions.
The Slash established the standard of excellence as the first team in the 10-year history of the Canadian midget AAA female hockey tournament to repeat in Saturday’s 2-1 final against the Saskatoon Stars in Bridgewater, N.S.
“It’s pretty amazing. Nothing can beat it,” co-captain Tyra Meropoulis told the Hockey Canada media official at nationals. “Winning two in a row is unbelievable. It’s such an amazing feeling.
Last year the Slash was the first Alberta team to win the Esso Cup while setting a 7-0 tournament record.
This year, with 10 returnees in the lineup, the Slash finished 6-1 and the only loss was 4-1 to the Stars in the six-team round robin.
In the rematch, Meropoulis' fourth goal at nationals opened the scoring as the forward from Edson tucked in her own rebound with 2:29 left in the first period.
Meropoulis was the golden-goal heroine in last year’s 1-0 overtime final against the Harfangs du Triolet of Sherbrooke, Que., at the Esso Cup in Morden, Man.
Madison Willan of Edmonton potted the second goal against the Stars with 48 seconds remaining in the middle frame by knocking a loose puck of the post and past the outstretched netminder, Jordan Ivanco.
Meropoulis and Jayme Doyle assisted on Willan’s fourth of the tournament.
The Stars responded less than a minute into the third by forcing a turnover at the Slash blueline that led to a tap-in by Kianna Dietz against netminder Camryn Drever (3-1, 1.88 GAA, .920 save percentage) of Edmonton.
After the halfway mark in the third, the Slash also killed off the team’s second penalty of the match
Shots were 6-2 for the Stars in the period as the Slash held the Western reps to nine in the first two periods.
The overall shot count was 18-15 for the Slash.
“They did a great job, an absolutely great job,” said Greg Slobodzian, head coach of the Stars, who had scored 28 goals in their first six games. “We haven’t been pressured like that in a long time. Our girls didn’t know how to handle it at the beginning but I thought we answered really well in the third period.
“It could’ve went either way.”
Co-captain Mackenzie Butz of Sherwood Park was selected the Slash player of the game.
The loss was only the fifth of the season for the Stars as winners of 24 in a row before the final.
The Slash advanced to the final in the 2-1 shootout decision against the Brampton Canadettes in Friday’s semifinal.
Both teams recorded 28 shots in 70 minutes of action.
The Ontario reps struck first by redirecting a shot past Drever 23 seconds into the second and Meropoulis replied with 3:53 to go in the period with a shot upstairs against netminder Hannah Szczepanowski.
In the shootout, after the first three players were denied, Meropoulis went five-hole on Szczepanowski to give the Slash the lead.
Two more saves by Drever and one more by Szczepanowski set the stage for Doyle and the Calahoo forward picked the top corner over the glove to seal the deal.
“I had an idea going into it. I usually go top shelf and when I was skating down I saw that open corner so I put it there. It was open all the way down, even my teammate told me she saw it but I was nervous,” Doyle said.
Among the Esso Cup award recipients were McKenzie Hewett of Edmonton as the top forward. Hewett produced four goals and six points in the tournament.
Vanessa Verbitsky of Fort Saskatchewan, Taylor Anker of Sherwood Park and Doyle also registered six points, while Meropoulis and Willan tied for the team lead with seven.
The Slash finished 34-11-1 overall in the Alberta Female Hockey League regular season, playoffs, Final Frozen Four provincials, Pacific Region series and nationals after going 38-4-1 last season.
The St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club team made its 2004/05 debut in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League and the Esso Cup was its third but second as the Pacific rep after hosting nationals in 2011.
More coverage to follow in the St. Albert Gazette.
- with files from Hockey Canada
