The St. Albert Ron Hodgson Slash saved the very best for last for a repeat finish as provincial champions.
The Slash were seven seconds away from losing Sunday’s final to the Rocky Mountain Raiders when Madison Willan forced overtime with the equalizer and in overtime after the team killed off a two-minute five-on-three power play McKenzie Hewett struck with the man advantage for the golden goal in the 3-2 comeback thriller in Red Deer.
“There were so many times in that game we could’ve folded the tent and packed it in and just say they’re better but they didn’t. They kept believing and kept pushing. It was awesome,” said Dan Auchenberg, head coach of the defending Esso Cup midget AAA national champions.
The message Auchenberg delivered to the winners of the second annual Final Frozen Four in the Alberta Female Hockey League summed up the never-say-die attitude of the players.
“I said the grit you had today was amazing, just outstanding, and the resilience to overcome things and keep persevering was incredible.”
The Slash will now head to Vancouver to challenge the Comets, the British Columbia midget AAA female champions, in the best-of-three Pacific Regional playoff next weekend and the winner advances to the 10th annual Esso Cup, April 21 to 29 at Bridgewater, N.S.
“Obviously it’s pretty cool to be in the position that we're in,” said Hewett, the OT heroine who sniped her second goal of the game and fifth of the tournament at 11:05 of the extra period.
“It’s pretty surreal,” said Hewett, who went top shelf (“I think it was over her blocker”) with the rebound 25 seconds into the power play on the team’s 23rd shot in the final. “I was just kind of laying in the weeds and the puck came right to me. I knew I just had to get it up because the goalie (Gabriella Durante) was in the splits on the ground and I did.
“The next thing you know I’m hugging my teammates and the whole bench is trampling down on me. That was pretty cool,” added Hewett, who has the cherished puck in her possession. “I was just in the right spot at the right time but that whole game was a team effort so I couldn’t have done it without the other 19 girls around me.”
The Slash were energized by the penalty kill in OT with Tyra Meropoulis (slashing) and Willan (body checking) sentenced to the sin-bin at the 7:08 mark.
“Our penalty kill was great all weekend and we knew we could do it and we did it and I think that gave us a lot of momentum for the rest of the overtime period. We knew we could do it after we killed that off,” Hewett said.
Auchenberg, who obviously didn’t agree with the penalties called in the neutral zone, was confident the Slash would survive.
“I told them you kill this off and you’ll win,” said Auchenberg, noting the only quality scoring chance for the Raiders was a shot in tight that netminder Camryn Drever pounced on.
“We killed it off and it was an energy boost for us. All of a sudden we just took it from there,” Auchenberg said. “Even when we tied it up, holy crap, the momentum changed. They just went flat-footed. They were done. It was an emotional drain. They were seven seconds away from winning. It was crazy.
“In overtime I thought we had a lot more legs and even in the last half of the third period we were pushing."
After a timeout with 18 seconds left to play, the Slash controlled the puck off the face-off in the Raiders’ end and during a scramble in front of the net Willan deposited her fifth goal of the tournament.
“It was pretty cool being on the ice and seeing that puck go in. Our bench went crazy and our coaches went crazy. The crowd’s reaction was priceless,” said Hewett, 17, a Grade 12 Vimy Ridge Academy student.
“I just sat down on the bench. I couldn’t believe it. It was just the way we did it,” Auchenberg said.
The Raiders opened the scoring in the first period, Hewett tied it at 3:52 of the middle frame and the Raiders made it 2-1 at 7:44 of the third.
Drever finished with 34 saves against a team that hadn’t lost in 18 games before the final.
“She kept us in the whole game. She was solid,” Auchenberg said.
The Raiders (24-4-2) and Slash (21-8-1) were the top two teams in the regular season and in the four-team round robin they had byes into the final locked up with 2-0 records before the meet in Saturday’s 4-3 win by the Raiders.
“They’re big and strong, Auchenberg said.
The Slash will now prepare for the Comets, a team they beat in last year’s Pacific Regional in St. Albert by scores of 2-0 and 3-2.
“They’re a little more offensive this year. They have only lost two games all year so they’re on fire,” said Auchenburg, who has reached out to his network of spies for video on the Comets. “Their offence is something we really have to figure out.”
The Slash skate into the series with 10 returnees from the first Esso Cup team to finish a perfect 7-0 as well as the first Alberta team to win the championship.
“The girls on the team last year know what it takes to win and they’re trying their best to lead the rest of us on,” said Hewett, a left winger who played last season for the Edge School of Calgary in the prep league.
The Slash, a St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club team, made their debut in the 2004/05 Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League season and the Esso Cup at Morden, Man. was the second in team history but the first as the Pacific Regional rep after hosting nationals in 2011.
Last season’s overall 38-4-1 record included a 27-2-1 mark in league play and the 2-2 showing at provincials was highlighted by the 2-0 decision in the final against the Raiders, the 2016 AMMFHL champions and Esso Cup bronze medallists.
“After winning it all last year we knew every team would be gunning for us,” Hewett said. “It definitely wasn’t a very easy season. We lost some important games but that didn’t set us back. We knew coming into provincials that we were able to beat every single one of those teams so we knew we could do it and we did.”
