Shawnigan Lake School (2) vs Delta Hockey Academy (5) Green Female U18 Prep Western Championships
Alix Walchuk was superb in between the pipes for Shawnigan Lake School yesterday, stopping 18 in her team’s 3-1 win over SAHA, and early in Monday’s game against Delta, she was called upon to provide a similar performance in the first period alone. She faced 13 Delta Green shots and did enough to keep the game scoreless long enough for Leah Hill (2G) to strike for Shawnigan to take the lead. Delta finally broke through on a late power play to send the game into the break tied, thanks to Payton Finnie (2G). Hill and Finnie would go on to swap power play goals in the first half of the second period, but with the game tied at two, Delta Green managed to take and extend their lead. Avery Wilson and London McDavid each scored before the second period’s conclusion, and with an empty-net goal, Delta Green ended up picking up a 5-2 victory.
Okanagan Hockey Academy (2) vs RINK Hockey Academy Kelowna (6) Female U18 Prep Western Championships
There’s nothing to knock about Okanagan Hockey Academy’s effort on Monday against an RHA Kelowna team who rolled through the first two games of their Western Championships with relative ease, and started Monday’s game in similarly dominant fashion, with Callie Rice (2G) scoring 49 seconds into the first period. Anezka Cabelova doubled the lead minutes later, with RHA Kelowna seemingly on their way to another dominant win. OHA responded really well, though, as after Tiani Makokis pulled OHA back within one, Felicia Girardo tied the game at two for OHA after just 95 second-period seconds. RHA Kelowna poured on the pressure, but Jorja Moore stood tall in between the pipes for OHA, making every save she was called upon to make in the second period at five-on-five. Danica Maynard (1G, 2A) scored on the powerplay with just over four minutes to play in the second to give RHA Kelowna the lead after a period in which they outshot their opponents 16-2. Rice added another one early in the third, and RHA Kelowna saw things out from there, protecting their lead until the end, with two more goals at the end of the third period helping the red-hot RHA Kelowna to their third consecutive victory at the Western Championships.
RINK Hockey Academy Winnipeg (0) vs Edge School Female (6) U18 Prep Western Championships
Edge School’s first two games at the U18 Prep Western Championships were vastly different, with their 3-1 win on Saturday over OHA followed up by an 8-0 loss to RHA Kelowna on Sunday. RHA Winnipeg’s first two games against the same two opponents both ended in losses, with Edge School coming into Monday’s game as significant favourites. First-period goals from Olivia Imperato (2G) and Sara Hettle (1G, 2A) set Edge School on their way, flexing their offensive muscles by outshooting RHA Winnipeg 13-8, 11-7, and 14-8 in the three periods played. Edge ultimately won 6-0, with Alexis Ehrman backstopping her team to victory with a no-nonsense 23-save shutout.
Pilot Mound Hockey Academy (0) vs Delta Hockey Academy Black (1/OT) Female U18 Prep Division II Western Championships Quarter-Finals
Pilot Mound Hockey Academy threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Delta Black goal in their quarter-final gam, but at every turn, Nicole Flesher was there. The Dalhousie University commit dazzled in a 44-save shutout victory over NAX in her first Western Championship game on Thursday and was back to her near-impeccable ways in her team’s first knockout game against Pilot Mound Hockey Academy. PMHA had two powerplay chances in the first period, ultimately outhsooting Delta Black 14-5, but couldn’t beat Flesher. The offensive threat from Delta Black grew as the game went on, but PMHA still managed 15 second-period shots on goal, all denied. The game continued in kind in the third, with Flesher ultimately stopping 17 shots in the third and helping Delta Black to overtime in a scoreless tie. Flesher made save number 47 in the first minute of overtime, and after Delta recovered the puck in the defensive zone, they’d swiftly work their way up ice. Abigail Jung picked the top corner
Yale Hockey Academy (0) vs Delta Hockey Academy (1/OT) U15 Prep Western Championships Semi-Finals
Yale Hockey Academy and Delta Hockey Academy arrived at their Western Championship semi-final by vastly different means; DHA was coming off a 7-3 thumping in their quarter-final victory against RHA Winnipeg in which they sent 55 shots goalwards and grabbed three goals off the stick of the red-hot Tripp Fischer alone. Yale, conversely, fought BWC Academy tooth and nail throughout their Sunday evening quarter-final, trailing 4-3 with late in the game. Tanner Massey’s equalizer with 61 seconds to go made it possible for Christopher Kokkoris to win it in overtime. Interestingly enough, overtime was the destiny of Yale and Delta’s semi-finals, with the game seeing over 68 scoreless minutes pass by, with Jack Utsunomiya for Delta and Gavin Craig for Yale standing tall to keep things tied. Ultimately, with 82 seconds to play in overtime, Eli Vickers hit Casey Pearson with a pass in the neutral zone. Pearson, with a step on his defenseman, drove wide before finishing the play off with a deke to the backhand, winning the game for Delta Hockey Academy in dramatic fashion.
North Shore Warriors (1) vs Pilot Mound Hockey Academy (7) U15 Prep Division II Western Championships Semi-Finals
Elias Mitrikas’ heroics, with a little help from a late game-winner from Sean Murphy, lifted the North Shore Warriors to the Western Championships semis. It was going to take a somewhat significant performance from Ashton Sims (31/38) between the pipes for the North Shore Warriors to better the undefeated Pilot Mound Hockey Academy, and through twenty minutes, it looked promising. North Shore were outplayed, but Sims stopped 14 of the 15 he faced, only beaten once by Brett Buors. Pilot Mound got a crucial second goal less than two minutes into the second period, with Kai Dingwall (2G) extending the lead. From there, the two teams traded chances throughout the second period, ultimately combining for 29 shots between the two squads in the middle frame alone. Pilot Mound earned a power play with barely under five minutes left in the second, and another goal from Dingwall extended the PMHA lead to three. Cole Landreville (1G, 2A) added another for Pilot Mound less than two minutes later, and by then, the damage was done for North Shore. Edward Kemp was able to pull them back within three in the last minute of the second, but three PMHA goals in the third put an exclamation point on Pilot Mound’s emphatic 7-1 semi-final victory.
STAR Hockey Academy (0) vs Northern Alberta Xtreme (3) U15 Prep Western Championships Semi-Finals
Northern Alberta Xtreme’s first forty minutes of hockey set the stage for them to comfortably defeat STAR Hockey Academy by a 3-0 scoreline on Sunday evening in the U15 Prep Western Championships Semi-Finals. Josh Ngandu scored the only goal of a first period primarily controlled by NAX, but in the second, they dominated, and two goals off the stick of Brady Ondrus saw NAX to a three-goal lead through forty minutes, having outshot STAR 15-1 in the second period alone. STAR pushed back in the third, but NAX was able to shift into defensive cruise control, with goaltender Karter Gibson stopping all 12 shots he faced in the third period to cap off a 21-save shutout victory.
North Shore Warriors (0) vs Okanagan Hockey Academy Black (2) Female U18 Prep Division II Western Championships Quarter-Finals
Ryann Faulkner (23/23) stopped all 23 shots she faced to backstop OHA Black to a 2-0 win over North Shore in the quarter-finals. After a scoreless first period, Haraya Mitchell and Rebecca Macfarlane beat Haylie Hedges (32/34) less than three minutes apart in the second to provide OHA Black with all of the offence they would need.
Notre Dame Hounds (0) vs Okanagan Hockey Academy (9) U15 Prep Division II Western Championships Semi-Finals
OHA outshot Notre Dame 58-28 en route to a 9-0 win. Maddox Slater (28/28) stopped all 28 shots he faced and Gage Mark (2G, 3A) paced the offence with five points. Talon Scinocca (1G, 2A) and Cohen Short (1G, 2A) each had three point games in the win.
Northern Alberta Xtreme (3) vs St. Mary’s Academy (2) Female U18 Prep Division II Western Championships Quarter-Finals
Defenseman Brayden Stewart gave NAX the lead late in the first period with her first goal of the Championships. Reese Kartusch tied the game 5:32 into the second with her fourth of the playoffs. Isabella Roppo would pounce on a rebound less than two minutes later to put NAX back ahead in the second. The period would end tied 2-2 as Mullen MacIntyre beat Aldawna Evers (33/35) off the post and in on a delayed penalty. Kaitlyn Senkoe would score the eventual game winner 6:25 into the third and Evers finished with 33 saves as the seven seed NAX knocked-off second seed St. Mary’s.
South Alberta Hockey Academy (0) vs OHA Edmonton (1) Female U18 Prep Western Championships
Both goalies faced 25 shots in net as Ava Antle (25/25) came up with one more save than Emma Skolney (24/25) to send OHA Edmonton to the semi-finals. Riley Cooper scored the game winning goal 8:24 into the game before both goalies shut the door the rest of the way. With the win, OHA Edmonton finished second in Pool B, setting up a semi-final game against RHA Kelowna.
