The bantam Girls had a busy few weekends with their season-opening games. On Saturday November 17 at SEAPARC the girls faced Campbell River. This is the same team they lost to at the Female Face-off tournament, so they were ready to get it back!
Late in the first period, a nice pass form Kaylee Peaker to Captain Morgan Couture with a precise top-shelf shot put Sooke on the board. The game was pretty tight in the second period when Campbell River tied up the game. Forwards Celina Palko, Nadia Kendall and Olivia Carello put a lot of pressure on Campbell River’s goalie.
Then, in the middle of the third period, Morgan Couture took the rebound from Rory Wood, and gave the game a second turn over; they won their first league game. Goalie Lilia Egeland was very strong. “I’m very confident when she’s protecting our net,” said coach Steve.
On Sunday afternoon, the girls headed out to the Peninsula to face the strong Eagles. “We know that our defence is strong,” said coach Steve. They delivered. Rory Wood, Jennifer Simon is, Victoria Sutherland and Leah Zschau were able to keep the Eagles away from our goalie Michele Lacombe.
Late in the first period, a nice breakaway from #11 Morgan Couture put Sooke on the board. It didn’t take long before Peninsula tied the score. But then, a nice play from Rory Wood all the way down with a great slap shot, gave the Sooke team a second advance.
With four minutes to left in the third period, the Eagles tied the game up again. The final score was two all.
“I couldn’t be happier. We play as a team all the game. Nice plays, great communication on the ice, and strong forwards like Kaitlin Mckelvey, Celina Palko, Lilia Egeland, Nadia Kendall, Olivia Carello, Chevy Alexander and Morgan Couture, make a great difference,” said Coach Steve. “Our hard work at practices are starting to show, and I’m very pleased with our team. One win and one tight, that’s a great season start.”
On November 23rd, the girls faced JdF, and they just couldn’t keep up with a loss of 5-1. The only Sooke goal was score by Morgan Couture with the help of Rory Wood in the second period. The forechecks from Olivia Carello, Kaitlin Mckelvey, Celina Palko, Erin Chisholm and Nadia Kendall were strong, but the JdF’s goalie was simply amazing.
“Nothing was working, like it was supposed to tonight,” said coach Steve. “The effort was there, but it wasn’t our night.”
Submitted by
Melanie Dube
