The Central Alberta Amazons' season has come to an end with a 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Wolves in Red Deer.
The third game of the best of five Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL) final series was played between the Edmonton Wolves and the Central Alberta Amazons at the Red Deer Arena on March 29 in front of nearly 300 fans.
The first two games were played in Edmonton with the Wolves taking both games - 3-1 on March 23 and 4-3 on March 22 to set up the third game in Red Deer.
As soon as the puck dropped, both the Wolves and Amazons exerted good pressure on each other's offense, with shots tied until midway through the first period.
The Wolves scored at 4:11 on a quick pass in front of the net to make the game 1-0.
After the first tally, the game maintained its controlled pace as each team stripped the puck as they crossed the centre ice zone, creating a swirling limited opportunity contest.
At 8:45 of the second frame, the Wolves notched an even strength goal to make it 2-0 from the left of the net.
The Amazons had difficulty clearing the puck from their zone, and the Wolves pounced on opportunities in open ice as the Edmonton team increased pressure on the defense.
With matching penalties at 15:00 of the second period and a four on four match-up, the teams opened up their games a little more with the Amazons netting a couple of breakaways that were stopped by the Wolves' netminder Shannon Giebelhaus.
By the end of the second period, the Amazons were outshot 23-14 and outscored 2-0, but they did not give up.
Scoring at 3:10, Karley Holt put the puck in the net on a pass from Stacey Duncan to make the game 2-1 with a clean open side goal.
Playing with increased intensity, the Amazons stepped up their play as Kelsey Mastel chased the puck down in the Wolves end, and narrowly missed on a backhand that no one saw coming.
The Amazons pulled their goalie with over a minute left in an effort to tie the game up but the Wolves were too strong to allow a good shot, even with a 6-4 woman advantage at 40 seconds left.
When the buzzer sounded, the Wolves had won the game, series, and the AJFHL hockey title.
“I am proud of the girls,” said Amazon coach John Kadar. “Even to get here, we were fourth in the league yet we won the south league title after some tough games against the Calgary Warriors, the Banff Academy Bears, and the Lethbridge Jr. Eagles.”
He noted the Wolves had a good team, coming off a successful 45-point season.
“All our games were close. In the first game we were down by three goals but came back with two in the third period, losing 4-3 for the loss,” added Kadar. “We put a good effort out to come a long way.”
Amazons team manager Tracy Lieper noted that one interesting storyline for the final was the Stang sisters.
“Alexa Stang played for us (the Amazons), while her sister Taylor played for the Wolves,” added Lieper. “It added a little drama every time we suited up.”
Charissa Kadar, Kelsey Mastel, Britni Crawford, and Karley Holt scored in the series for the Amazons.
