Morning Star Staff
The Thompson-Okanagan Lakers are out of the B.C. Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoffs.
The Lakers lost 2-1 Saturday morning and 2-0 later that night to the Northland Dodge Northern Cougars in the best-of-three semifinal series in Prince George.
The Cougars came out flying in the opener but Laker goalie Emma Gottfriedson (Kamloops) kept it close, as the Lakers were outshot 45-12.
Christy Blackburne (West Kelowna) put the Lakers ahead with the only goal of the first period, but the lead didn’t last long. Marissa Nichol snuck a shot past Gottfriedson, 22 seconds into the second, and Jayden Malgunas followed up in the third period with a shot from the point that found the net.
In the second game, the Lakers came out looking like they might extend the series to the limit and had the Cougars pinned in their own zone for much of the opening 10 minutes, but got nothing to show for it.
The only goal in the first period came just before the intermission when Madison Fjellstrom picked the puck out of a scramble and tucked it through the legs of Gottfriedson.
The Cougars made it a 2-0 game when Jocelyn Forrest took the puck in the face-off circle and let go a shot that ticked off the stick of Laker defenceman Nikita Payne before it landed in the net just under the crossbar.
With eight minutes left, Riley Henderson (West Kelowna) chipped the puck off the side boards just as Cougar defenceman Victoria Byer lost her balance and that set up a 2-on-1 rush that was nicely broken up by Victoria Johnson, who slid her body in front of Henderson’s shot.
The Lakers pulled Gottfriedson for the extra attacker and with 49 seconds left ,Andie Kaneda had the puck on her stick in the slot and tried to jam it in but Kelsey Roberts made the save to preserve a 14-save shutout, her fourth of the season.
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