Coming into the Christmas break the Penhold Amazons have plenty of reasons to be happy.
For most of the season, the third for the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL), the defending league champion Amazons have been the team to beat. They are on top of the south division’s standings and leading the entire league with a record of 16 - 1, including back to back wins last weekend.
On Saturday, they were on the road in Calgary and beat the Calgary Warriors 3 – 1. The next day, the Amazons played a home game in Caroline and defeated the Edmonton Wolves 4 – 1.
This year the 20-player Penhold team is competing with 12 hungry and determined first year players. That would normally be considered by many as a recipe for a rebuilding year. Not so though. The first year players are competing just fine.
The Amazon’s 18-year-old rookie Ciana Zweifel is the south division’s top scorer, and 20-year-old Jessica Amendt is far and away the division’s top goalie, with a stellar goals against average of 0.94 as of Dec. 9.
Head coach Val Gill said she is obviously pleased with her squad’s performance thus far, adding it bodes well for the future.
“We look forward to a few more years of success with these up and coming girls,” said Gill, who is also in her third year with the team.
As for the fine performance of Zweifel, she is not surprised. The former Red Deer AAA midget star came to the Amazons with a great attitude, she said.
“She is a great skater and comes to us with unbelievable skills,” said Gill. “She is a very humble person. She really reminds me of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He’s (Edmonton Oilers and former Red Deer Rebel) a nice kid too.”
While Gill easily sings the praises for Zweifel and the team’s offence she will not exclude mention of the team’s defence, led by Amendt’s consistently solid performance.
“She was our starting goalie last year and she is having a great season this year too,” said Gill. “She’s very laid back, which is a confidence builder for our defence. She handles the pressure really well.”
At this point of the season the only area that could concern Gill and the coaching staff is a post Christmas break let down. Last season, the Amazons were 11 – 3 at the break and finished the regular season with a record of 15 – 6. While last year’s post Christmas performance was not disastrous by any means Gill wants her squad to be on guard against complacency.
“Last year we didn’t have to many goal scorers. We had a lot of close games,” said Gill. “We want to be focused this year and to be consistent and mentally prepared for every game. Last year before the playoffs we had a few losses. This year we have to be prepared to be at our best mentally.”
So far this year for the Amazons the team to watch out for is Fort Saskatchewan Fury. Penhold beat the Fury 3 – 1 on Oct. 30 but Fort Saskatchewan came back on Nov. 5 to crush the Amazons 5 – 0.
“We were missing a couple of girls for that game and we had mental break downs,” said Gill. “It seemed we couldn’t do anything right. But kudos to them they played a good game. I feel they are the team to beat.”
The Amazons will play their last game before Christmas this Saturday at the Penhold Regional Multiplex when they host the Calgary Titans.
