Rocky start for ladies

Strathmore Editor

 

Despite a pair of valiant performances this past weekend, the Strathmore Rockies are still looking for their first win of the season.

The local Western Women’s Hockey League team was defeated 2-1 by the Edmonton Chimos on Dec. 10 in Ponoka, before falling 5-3 at the Strathmore Family Centre on Dec. 12.

While most teams are well into their season, these were just the second and third games of the season for the Rockies, after falling 2-1 to Edmonton in a shootout Oct. 30.

We’ve been practicing for three months and we’ve only had three games,” said coach Tom Molloy. “It’s hard to keep the interest up in practice if you’re never playing games. It’s almost like ‘what are you practicing for?’

“It’s kind of lucky with our injuries that we have so many games after Christmas, because hopefully they’ll all be back.”

While the team has filled their game appetite with exhibition games versus minor triple-A midget teams in the area, the team was anxious to play meaningful games this past weekend.

The Rockies came out flying Friday night and outshot the Chimos 15-4 in the first period, but trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes. Strathmore went on to outshoot Edmonton 36-33, but couldn’t muster more than the one goal Melissa Welton scored 3:23 into the third period.

“We just didn’t score,” said Malloy of the first weekend game. “I thought we deserved a better fate.”

On Sunday, Kelsey Webster scored twice, while Tonya Faasse scored once to pace the Rockies offence. Welton added a pair of assists. 

“We started slow in the first 10 minutes or so and got down 2-0,” explained team captain Kaley Herman of the 5-3 loss. “We had to fight back the whole time. I think we played well, we just couldn’t bury our chances. We got into penalty trouble there and (then) gave up a shorthanded goal, so we were playing catch-up the whole game.”

Despite battling some injuries now, Herman is optimistic for the calendar to flip to 2011. Once they have a full lineup, they are a different team.

“I feel like our strength is skating and moving the puck – seeing each other out there and moving the puck nicely,” said Herman. “When we do that, we get tons of chances to bury it.”

The Rockies are back in action Jan. 21 (8 p.m.) and Jan. 22 (5:30 p.m.) when they host the Minnesota Whitecaps at the Strathmore Family Centre.

Giving back to the community

Members of the Strathmore Rockies Women’s Hockey Team are going to share their time, hockey knowledge and a little Christmas spirit with the Town of Strathmore. The Rockies will run a practice at the Strathmore Family Centre with the peewee girls’ hockey team on Dec. 21, at 6:45 p.m. 

The Rockies are role models for youth, specifically young girls in the community who aspire to play hockey at an elite level. The Rockies run a program called EnCana Hockey Rocks all season long for any team that would like to have the Rockies at their practice. 

“It’s really fun for the Rockies to skate with and teach the younger players,” said Samantha Holmes-Domagala, President of the Rockies. “We were all that age once and we know how valuable it is to have older players to look up to. For that reason, and to give back to the Strathmore Community, we run EnCana Hockey Rocks.” 

The team will also host a practice for the bantam girls on Dec. 19 (10:30 a.m.) at the Strathmore Family Centre.