Rocky Mountain raid Provincials

Aryssah Stankevitsch  

Times Reporter    

 

The female bantam AAA Rocky Mountain Raiders fueled by three local players, earned provincial gold against St. Albert Raiders winning the best-of-three series, 2-0. Rocky Mountain defeated St. Albert in Cochrane on March 28, 5-1, and also on March 29, 3-2, in Okotoks. The team was ranked number one going into Provincials.

“I think the players bought into the puck possession style of game that we’d asked of them,” Rocky Mountain coach Jordan Fenton said. “They worked extremely hard on both sides of the puck – extremely dedicated and driven. We were very creative on the ice.”

In Game 1, Strathmore’s Hailey McCallum finally opened up the scoring in the second period, against a tough St. Albert netminder.

“The goalie was very good. In the first and second games, she stopped lots of pucks. I think in the first game we had 40-something shots before we even got our first goal,” McCallum said.  “My line, we just kept shooting and shooting. She stopped everything.”

McCallum opened the scoring in Game 2 as well, but had help in both matchups from Carseland’s Jane Jacobs, who attends school in Strathmore. Jacobs scored two in the third of Game 1; finally some results after 46 shots on net, to St. Albert’s 16.

“It was persistence I guess,” Fenton said. “The players continued to get quality shots on goal. We started to pay the price to get in closer to get secondary scoring chances.”

On March 29, with the score 2-2, Jacobs assisted on the powerplay game-winning goal, with just over a minute remaining. Again, Rocky Mountain dominated offensively, with 43 shots on net.

“It was hard at times but we never gave up,” said another Strathmore player, Karissa Hammond. “We just had to keep shooting and the forwards had to go to the net to get the rebounds.”

Rocky Mountain defeated the Calgary Outlaws and the Red Deer Chiefs to reach the finals against fifth-seeded St. Albert.

“St. Albert, I have to give them a lot of credit. They worked extremely hard,” Fenton said. “They just played a really strong energy game, where they collapsed and blocked a lot of shots. Their goaltender was outstanding.”

Fenton mentioned that all three local girls – McCallum, Jacobs, and Hammond – have been integral to the team’s accomplishments this year.

“Hailey was the leading assist-getter on our team throughout the playoffs,” he said. “Jane has been an extremely offensively gifted defenseman, and she is paired with Karissa – the two compliment each other’s skills very well.”

Fenton feels that it is also necessary to acknowledge the many local minor hockey programs in which his squad started, because it led to so much success.

 “This is the first time these players have come together to play on a composite team made up of players from a large draw zone,” he said. “Much of the credit needs to go back to the volunteers and coaches that helped to develop their skills.”