Female Chiefs conclude pre-season schedule
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- Published on Thursday, September 29, 2016
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The newly minted 2016-2017 Yellowhead AAA Midget Female Chiefs have kicked off their pre-season schedule. The Chiefs started the year with a tournament in Saskatchewan in mid-September and finished that weekend event with a 1-0-2 record.
Yellowhead would then play a pair of exhibition games at home, against the Melville Prairie Fire on Sept 17-18 in Shoal Lake. The teams had faced each other the previous weekend in Swift Current in a game that ended in a tie.
Game one on Saturday, Sept. 17, saw the Chiefs dominate in many facets of the game except that all important goals scored stat. In the first and second periods, the hosts fired 26 shots at the Melville goal while only allowing eight on Miranda Cook in goal. Cass Lytlle was the only Chief to score in the first two periods as she cleaned up after a great rush by Sydnee DeCorby led to a chance in front. Monet Mazawasicuna had the second assist.
In the third period, Melville was able to take advantage of a few more chances and scored three times. Tatum Amy, on an impressive individual effort, got one back for the Chiefs late in the third. Despite outshooting the Prairie Fire 31-14, the Chiefs fell 4-2.
On Sunday afternoon, the teams met again and the Chiefs were challenged by the coaching staff to have some grit to their game and finish around the net. The team was led in the first period by the super quick line of Morgan Ramsay, Jena Barscello and McKyia Mazue, as Ramsay scored twice on nice set ups from Mazur. Sadie Wood and Rylee Gluska continued to show they will fit in nicely with in the physical midget game as they combined for the Chiefs third goal in the period. Gluska carried the puck out of the Chiefs’ zone and fired a quick shot as she crossed the blue line. Wood crashed the net and buried the rebound. In the second, veteran Cass Lyttle continued her early season scoring as she sniped twice, including a slick deflection off a Monet Mazawasicuna slapshot, to increase the Chiefs’ lead to 5-1. Melville would add another early in the third but Tori Eilers would shut the door after that, finishing with 26 saves and her first win as a Chief.
The Chiefs travelled to Portage la Prairie last weekend for the Central Plains Capitals Pre-season Showcase. Over the span of three days, Yellowhead played four games and closed out the tournament with a 2-2 record. With the exhibition season now at a close, the Chiefs look ahead to their regular season home opener on Saturday, Oct. 1, against the Norman Wild. Opening face-off in Shoal Lake is scheduled for 7:30 pm. Those two teams will challenge one another once again the following day at 12:00 pm.
