PENHOLD - The Central Alberta Amazons played their way to the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League finals this season but came up short and finished in second place.
The Amazons faced a tough Sherwood Park Steele team in the finals, who took the series 3-1 and claimed the league championship in Game 4 on home ice March 25.
The Amazons split the first two games of the finals at home and headed north to Sherwood Park for games 3 and 4.
"They were hard-fought games. In (Game 3) we were up by a couple of goals and they came back and tied it," said Rick Potter, head coach. "Then we ran into penalty problems."
Game 3 took two overtime periods to solve but the Amazons fell 4-3.
"We outshot them 56-37 in that game so we were all over them but the penalties are what hurt us," he said.
"We knew we had to win one game up there."
Game 4 would prove to be difficult after playing two overtime periods the day before, added Potter.
"The girls were tired because they left everything on the ice Friday night, but they rose to the occasion like they have all year," said Potter. "Again we were ahead and we ran into penalty problems. Eventually we ended up losing 3-2."
With the exception of one game including the playoffs, all games played against the Sherwood Park Steele (five out of six games) were won by just one goal, he noted.
Potter said despite the loss it was a good season for the Amazons.
"They tried as hard as they possibly could and we were really proud of them," said Potter. "We had a good season.
"I've coached for over 40 years and this team was probably in the top three as far as effort, desire and determination."
Rick Potter, Amazons head coach
"I've coached for over 40 years and this team was probably in the top three as far as effort, desire and determination."
