Ice seize control of female AAA 18 final

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This article was published 26/03/2023 (1279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It wasn’t the most productive game of Haley Braun’s season but the star winger was lethal when she needed to be Sunday night.

Braun’s first-period goal, her sixth in seven playoff games, lifted the Winnipeg Ice to a 1-0 triumph over the Westman Wildcats in Game 2 of the Manitoba Female AAA 18 Hockey League final at the hockey for all centre.

The Ice lead the best-of-five series 2-0.

Braun was lurking in the offensive zone, skating one-on-one with a Westman defender, before hesitating and snapping the puck past Wildcats goaltender Grace Glover, the league’s reigning MVP.

“I was looking to make the pass at first but no one was there,” said Braun, who skates on Winnipeg’s top line with centre Ava Bergman and winger Stephanie Jacob. “I used the D as a screen.”

Braun nearly extended the lead when another shot hit a post minutes later but the damage was already done for the hosts, who outshot Westman 37-19 and held on for the win.

“It was a smart goal,” said Westman head coach Guy Williams. “(Braun) delayed on the shot and then shot short side and I don’t think (Glover) saw it till it got through the defence.

“We’ve got to generate more and we’ve got to play smoother coming out of our own end and right now we’re really struggling to manage the pace that they’re playing at.”

The Ice tried to play mistake-free after taking the early lead.

“We just took a deep breath, calmed down and decided to focus on the simple plays,” said Braun.

Braun’s heroics are very familiar to Ice head coach Eugene Kaminsky.

“She’s like that shark attack where she waits and waits and waits and all sudden she gets the puck on her stick and she becomes dangerous,” said Kaminsky.

“When you see Haley coming through the neutral zone with the puck, all of a sudden you can just feel the energy on the bench because they know something special is about to happen.”

Winnipeg will be hoping for more Braun magic in Game 3 in the series, which is scheduled for Tuesday in Hartney at 7:30 p.m.

The Ice are attempting to become the first Winnipeg-based team to capture a league championship.

Glover, a Grade 12 student at Boissevain School, was superb and finally pulled in favour of an extra attacker with 71 seconds left in the third period.

The Wildcats couldn’t manage a solid scoring opportunity to tie the game.

“I think there’s a lot of emotion in our room right now but I think that the next focus is on Tuesday and if we come out and play our best and as a team that I think it’ll go our way,” said Glover, who will play at the University of Alberta next fall. “I have full confidence in our team.

“I think the past few games (the Ice) put on their best effort and I think that we have another level to give.”

Kaminsky is also hoping his team will improve.

“We did not play very well,” said Kaminsky. “Our D-corps, which has been sort of a staple for us, did not have a good game. And I think… it’s the pressure of the situation. They’re having a hard time dealing with it right now. So it’s going to be very interesting on Tuesday.”

A Game 4, if necessary, would be played at the hockey for all centre Thursday at 7 p.m.

Game 5 would be back in Hartney on Sunday, April 2, starting at 2 p.m.

The winner of this series will go on to face the Saskatchewan champion in a best-of-three inter-provincial final next month with the winner advancing to the Esso Cup national women’s U18 championship to be played in Prince Albert, Sask., April 23-29.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca