The Parkland Bantam Lions completed their 麻豆传媒AV Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SSFHL) regular season schedule with a perfect record of 22-0-0 following an 8-2 win over Estevan on Saturday, Feb. 7.
Austen Dubreuil led the Lions with a hat trick In their regular season finale.听 Jordan Holinaty added a pair of goals while Sierra Meroniuk, Hannah Pennell, and Brooke Hausermann chipped in solo markers on 40 Lions shots on net.
Goaltender Taylor Nagy blocked 16 Estevan shots en route to her 22nd win on the season. The Lions鈥� 22 regular season wins included an amazing 154 goals for with only 10 goals against and a record-setting 16 shutouts. 鈥淎fter the game we took a moment to recognize just what an accomplishment it is for a team to go undefeated in the regular season,鈥� said Coach Chad Holinaty. 鈥淎t the same time, we don鈥檛 want this to be our high point.
鈥淲e realize that playoffs are a whole different season, and we need to keep elevating our game if we want to advance.鈥�
Holinaty wasn鈥檛 the only Parkland coach to suggest that, while an undefeated regular season is all well and good, it isn鈥檛 the main goal of their 2014/15 season. 鈥淭he girls have had a great season, but our goal isn鈥檛 to be the champions of the regular season,鈥� offered coach Kim Pennell, adding, 鈥淲e have parts of our game as individuals and as a team we need to keep improving on if we want to make a long playoff run.鈥�
Coach Dean Shyiak then identified a few examples of areas the team needs to improve upon. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 started games with the kind of energy and intensity we would like. The last two games, we鈥檝e given up the first goal and had to play from behind.
鈥淎s well, our power play has struggled, so we need to spend some time working on our special teams.鈥� 听
While the Lions await the start of their league playoffs, they have already completed the first round of the Bantam 鈥楢鈥� Provincial Playoffs. The Lions were matched up with the Regina Renegades.
The Lions won the two-game total goal series 9-1, following wins of 5-0 in Game One and 4-1 in Game Two. 鈥淭he game scores don鈥檛 tell how close the games were,鈥� noted Holinaty in regards to their first round Provincial series. 鈥淭he first game was scoreless after two periods before the girls were able to find the back of the net. I thought we played really well, skated well, and controlled the play, but we just had a hard time getting that first goal.
鈥淲e were glad to see that the girls didn鈥檛 panic, but they kept with the system and finally were rewarded.鈥�
Game Two saw Regina take the early lead before the Lions responded with four goals of their own. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 skate or play nearly as well as we did in Game One鈥�, observed听 coachPennell. 鈥淗opefully, we learned some lessons about the difference between the regular season and playoff hockey.鈥�
The Lions next opponent will be the winner between Estevan and Weyburn.
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