Esso cup Wildcats win gold in inaugural tournament

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This article was published 26/04/2009 (6373 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Westman Wildcats got the ultimate revenge Saturday at the Esso Cup in Calgary.

The Hartney-based squad won the first female midget Canadian hockey championship with a 5-2 victory over the Scarborough Sharks, the same team that beat them 3-1 in round-robin play on Thursday.

"This is a big step for our community and our program," 18-year-old team captain Brittany Phillips of Lauder said of the championship. "This has a lot of sentimental value to me and it’s hard for me to describe how it feels to end my midget career with a lot of teammates I will always cherish. This is an awesome feeling."

Wawanesa’s Jenna-Marie Durnin, 18, who has committed to play for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns in September, scored twice and picked up an assist. Her second goal, fired from between teammate Brandonite Amy Lee’s legs in front of the net, clinched the title for the Wildcats at the halfway mark of the second period.

Unlike Westman’s previous two goals, where Scarborough replied to tie the game less than two minutes later, the Sharks couldn’t bounce back from Durnin’s goal.

"We just started to wear down their defence and they started turning over some pucks," Wildcats coach Dwight Pollock of Virden said. "Every goal was big, but our third one was huge because… they didn’t answer."

Sixteen-year-old Brandi Pollock of Virden also scored a goal and chipped in two assists for the Wildcats, while 16-year-old Kelsie Scott of Souris and Lee, 17, each added goals of their own.

Erin Weston, a 16-year-old forward from Pickering, Ont., and Caitlin Mancini, a 17-year-old forward from Scarborough, responded for the Sharks, the Ontario representative.

Tara Lacquette, 18, of Mallard, stopped 28 shots in her last game with the Wildcats. She will play for the University of Manitoba Bisons next season. Marissa Kozovski made 36 saves for the Sharks, including 16 in the second period alone, when the Wildcats outshot their opponents 18-9. That offensive domination shut down the Sharks, who had surged forward from a poor start with late-tournament wins that propelled them into the final.

"There’s no doubt they were confident and they thought they could beat us again," Pollock said. "We know we didn’t have our best game against them earlier in the week and the kids wanted to prove to (Scarborough) that they were a better team."

— The Brandon Sun