2015 Esso Cup

BAST’S SHOOTOUT WINNER SENDS CHIEFS IN GOLD MEDAL GAME

WENDY GRAVES

RED DEER, Alta. – In what can only be the most wonderful sense of déjà vu for the host city, Mairead Bast (Red Deer, Alta.) scored the only goal of the shootout, as the Red Deer Chiefs defeated the Saskatoon Stars and became the first host team to ever advance to the gold medal game of the Esso Cup.

Twenty-four hours earlier Bast won her team’s final preliminary round game versus the Central Plains Capitals.
The Chiefs will play the Sudbury Lady Wolves Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m. MT).

The fact that tonight’s game even got as far as a shootout was a story in itself.

At one point Saskatoon was called for eight straight penalties, twice putting Red Deer on a five-on-three advantage. Coming in the Chiefs had scored only twice on 18 power play opportunities. They finished this night one for 10.

And twice the Chiefs had a goal disallowed – once because the Stars net had been knocked off, and then because of a high stick.

What also got the game to a shootout was the outstanding work of goaltenders Sarah Murray (Calgary, Alta.) and Emma Johnson (Saskatoon, Sask.). Murray finished with 30 saves; Johnson had 25. Murray received a curtain call at the end of the game from the appreciative home crowd.

The Red Deer goalie stopped Jordyn Holmes (Saskatoon, Sask.) on a breakaway in the first, Sophie Shirley (Saskatoon, Sask.) on one early in the second and Brittany Heuchert (Saskatoon, Sask.) later in the period when she was left alone in front for a shorthanded opportunity.

Shirley, named the 2015 Esso Cup Most Valuable Player and Top Scorer, earlier in the day, had given the Stars a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game on the power play. Willow Slobodzian (Saskatoon, Sask.) passed down low to Nara Elia (Saskatoon, Sask.), who crossed over in front of the crease but was denied by Murray. Shirley put in the rebound.

The tying goal came on the power play just past the midway point of the second, when Cassidy Hollman (Red Deer, Alta.) one-timed Kirsten Baumgardt’s (Innisfail, Alta.) pass home from the slot.

The speed and skill the Stars had shown this week had impressed fans at the Red Deer Arena. Tonight that display was often put on hold by repeated trips to the penalty box. Coming into the game the Stars sat last among the six teams on the penalty kill, at 78 percent. While they were solid when playing a man down – the Chiefs scored only the one power play goal – it came at the expense of creating sustained offensive pressure.