The two top teams in the Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Associations female midget league, the Tri-port Wild and the Campbell River Hurricanes, faced off Nov. 7 in Port Hardy at the Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena. Both teams had a brief warm up and then got right to business as soon as the puck was dropped.
The passionate crowd was loud from the start, cheering on their respective hometown teams. The first period was filled with back and forth play. Both teams had chances at each end of the ice. The Hurricanes got on the board first, with a wrist shot getting past the Wild’s goalie. The Wild came back to tie it up soon after, with a nice goal of their own by Bree-Anna Henderson. The Wild’s Taylor Ranger added another goal to make the score 2-1 going into the second period.The Hurricanes started the second period well, pressuring the Wild in their own end. The Wild defended their lead and pressed back, adding another goal by Madison Van Will to make it 3-1. Near the end of the second period, with two players in the penalty box, the Wild managed to successfully kill a five on three penalty situation, getting them out of the period with their two-goal lead still intact.
The Wild came out firing in the third period. Henderson notched her second goal of the game to make it 4-1. The Hurricanes, now down by three, came back and scored three straight goals to tie the game up with a little over two minutes left on the clock. With 30 seconds or so left to go, The Hurricanes were pressuring the Wild deep in their own end, when a brief fight broke out between opposing players. The Wild were penalized, and the game ended quietly in a 4-4 tie.
In what turned out to be a very exciting three periods of hockey, the Wild played hard throughout the scrappy game, digging in deep when needed, passing and shooting the puck up and down the ice while making the best of their scoring opportunities.The next home game is in Port McNeill on Nov. 21. Come on out and cheer on the Wild.
