A historic provincial three-peat will entrench the greatness of the St. Albert Slash in hockey lore.
The host team for the third annual Final Frozen Four this weekend at Go Auto Arena is poised for success after winning 26 out of 30 games in the Alberta Female Hockey League.
“We know as a group we can really accomplish something great here and what we’re striving to do is go for that three-peat and we don’t want anything less than that,” said assistant captain Isabelle Lajoie of the Esso Cup midget AAA national champions the last two years.
Lajoie, assistant captain Makenna Schuttler, captain Madison Willan, defenceman Taylor Anker and netminder Brianna Sank are third-year Slash players from the first Alberta team to win the Esso Cup and the first team to repeat in the tournament’s 10-year history.
The Slash finished 34-11-1 overall last season after going 38-4-1 as the first St. Albert female team to capture the Esso Cup in 2017.
Provincials started Friday for the No. 1-ranked Slash, 26-3-1 in league play with nine returnees on the roster.
“There has always been some pressure especially being back-to-back national champions, but this year there is a little added pressure as we are not really seen as the underdogs as we were last year (at 21-8-1 as the second-place team in the AFHL). We are the team to beat and we know that we’re the top team. We just have to play our best because we know the other teams that are here this weekend will play their best against us, too, and we have to be prepared for that,” Lajoie said.
Friday’s scores against the Red Deer Chiefs (9-18-3) and the Calgary Fire (19-8-3) were unavailable at press time.
Today at 3:15 p.m. the Slash and the second-place Lloydminster Steelers (22-7-1) face off in the last round robin game.
Sunday’s medal finals are 10 a.m. for bronze and 1 p.m. for gold.
The provincial winner hosts the Pacific Region best-of three national qualifier against the British Columbia champion for a berth at the Esso Cup, April 21 to 27 in Sudbury, Ont.
“We’re all super excited. In past years we have come out on top but it’s a new year so we’re all going to put our best foot forward and go for it,” Schuttler said.
However, the last two provincials weren’t a sure thing for the Slash despite a winning record.
Last year the Slash were seven seconds away from losing the final to the Rocky Mountain Raiders when Willan forced overtime with the equalizer and after the team killed off a two-minute five-on-three power play, McKenzie Hewitt’s golden goal with the man advantage capped off the 3-2 comeback thriller.
Two years ago, the difference between playing for gold or bronze was Calgary upsetting Red Deer in a four-round shootout to end the round robin in a three-way tiebreaker that was decided on the goals for/against formula for the 1-2 Slash, who went on to blank the Raiders 2-0 in the final.
“Our first year we were, I guess you could say, the favourites going into it, too (at 27-2-1) so even though we are the favourites this year that puts a target on our back. Everyone wants to beat us so we need to play our best for sure,” Schuttler said. “Our coach, Dan (Auchenberg), always says we want to control our own destiny so we can’t take anything lightly.”
The Slash also have the luxury of home ice advantage even though two of the three losses in regulation time were in St. Albert by scores of 2-0 to Lloydminster on Oct. 13 and 4-1 to Calgary on Feb. 23.
“It’s great that we have it in our own barn. We know how the puck comes off the boards and we know all the corners so that’s a huge advantage to us,” said Schuttler, a left-winger who produced four goals and 20 points in 30 games.
The Slash are coming off an 18-day layoff after their last league game March 3.
“It was good for us. We had a pretty busy schedule and getting that time to work on our systems and get some rest will be good,” Lajoie said. “We had an exhibition game last weekend (against the bantam AA Elite Promotional Blues) which was nice just to get back in touch and moving but we’ll see how it goes (Friday) if our timing is good.”
Teams have struggled keeping pace with the Slash.
“We’re one of the fastest if not the fastest team in the league and when we have our legs moving and we’re working hard, I don’t think any team can beat us,” said Schuttler, 17, a Grade 12 Bellerose Composite High School student.
The Slash dominated teams while averaging 3.9 goals scored and an amazing 0.86 goals-against per game.
Willan led all AFHL scorers with 24 goals, including a league-high seven on the power play, 27 assists and 51 points for her second scoring crown in three years.
Placing second behind Willan in league scoring were Jaden Bogden’s 32 points, Mackenzie Kordic’s 20 goals and Jenna Goodwin’s 18 assists.
Sank (13-2-1,0.81 GAA) and Holly Borrett (13-1, 0.86 GAA) also combined for an eye-popping 15 shutouts with Sank posting nine.
“Our team strengths are definitely our speed and our work ethic and that’s what has been giving us success all season so we just have to stick to that and the game plan of what the coaches tell us and that will lead us to success on the ice,” said Lajoie, a right-winger who was limited to five goals and eight points in 17 games because of an early-season injury.
The Grade 12 Bellerose student was joined by Bogden and Brooklyn Schroeder on the gold-medal winning U18 provincial team at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.
Lajoie’s brother, Marc, a defenceman with the Northern Alberta Xtreme’s midget prep team, was a bronze medallist with Alberta in the U16 tournament at the Games.
In the female final, Alberta edged Quebec 2-1 March 2 as Bogden’s first goal of the tournament snapped a 1-1 tie in the second period.
“It was unbelievable. It was a totally different experience being able to represent my province. It was a sold-out rink for the final and it’s definitely something I will never forget,” said Lajoie, an assistant captain on Team Alberta.
“We didn’t have the best round robin (1-2 record) but we totally came together starting in the quarter-finals against Manitoba (3-0 win) and then against B.C. (2-1 overtime win) we kind of found our mojo and we totally bought into what the coaches were telling us,” said Lajoie, who celebrated her 18th birthday Thursday by being interviewed by the Gazette. “It just made it that much better that no one really expected for us to win there as we kind of upset everyone.”
