Celtics hang on for lead over Eagles
St. David edges St. Mary’s, 2-1; can win District 8 gold Thursday
Mikayla Schnarr makes most of her saves the conventional way.
On Tuesday at RIM Park, she turned to the power of persuasion.
The talented St. David Celtics goaltender convinced a pair of on-ice officials to overturn what appeared to be a game-tying goal, and her team held on for a 2-1 win over the St. Mary’s Eagles in the opening game of the District 8 girls’ hockey final.
The second game in the best-ofthree series is Thursday at the Activa Sportsplex in Kitchener.
“As she (Isabelle Schroder) came across the net, she kicked it in and I just saw it out of the corner of my eye and I was not going to let that go,” said Schnarr.
“The first ref was convinced it was a goal and after he talked with his partner, he decided that she kicked the puck in the net and it got called back.”
The referees’ ruling — the play was initially ruled a goal by the official closest to the action — took place with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period. Players from both teams lined up for a faceoff at centre ice as the officials discussed the situation. The refs returned to centre ice and waved off the goal, leaving the Eagles wondering what had happened.
Schroder was convinced she did nothing wrong and that the referees made a poor decision. Her stick was the only thing to come in contact with the puck, she said, and the goal should have stood.
“My stick was in front of my skate but I didn’t make a kicking motion,” she said.
“It’s frustrating.”
The Eagles held a huge territorial edge in a game between two teams that were both missing key players to injuries and illness.
Still, it was St. David that struck first when Chloe Davidson took a pass from Jenna Berger and fired a high wrist shot past Eagles goaltender Christina Vanalstyne from about 15 feet out.
The Eagles controlled the play for long stretches, but Schnarr came up with a number of impressive saves, including firstperiod opportunities by Lindsay McIntyre and Katina Duscio.
St. Mary’s finally managed to beat Schnarr with 5:55 to play in the second period, when Lane Yuke took a perfect feed from Ella Murphy and scored from close range.
Schnarr exchanged pleasantries with one of the officials after that goal as well, but was unable to convince him that the net was off its pegs.
“It’s always worth a try,” she said with a smile. “I do have a strong opinion and I like to use it when I can.”
St. David regained the lead 75 seconds later when Berger took a pass from Davidson to complete a well-executed two-on-one. Berger is usually a backup goaltender for St. David, but volunteered to play a forward position because of the player shortage.
From there, it was all Schnarr, a Grade 11 student who plays for the Waterloo K-W Rangers of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League outside of school.
“I like the action. I find when there’s not a lot of shots, it’s harder to stay focused,” said Schnarr of her busy performance.
“We’ve won silver the last two years, so it would be nice to win gold on Thursday.”
Schroder, not surprisingly, would like to force a third and deciding game. “We’re disappointed that we lost today, but we’ll play hard the next game and try to win that one,” she said.
Regardless of the series outcome, both teams will move on to compete at the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) championships: St. David at the double-A level and St. Mary’s at the triple-A level.
St. David also won the opening game of the District 8 boys hockey league final at RIM Park, scoring a 6-3 win over the Resurrection Phoenix.
Brayden Crawford led the winners with two goals, Jack Edmeades, Cam Hyjek, Jack Ronson and Wes Taylor had singles. Hayden Scott, Quin Gregoire and Flynn Bean replied for Resurrection.
Game 2 is Thursday at RIM Park.
WCSSAA
The Grand River Renegades and Huron Heights Huskies were both winners in the semifinal round of the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) boys hockey league playoffs.
Grand River opened its best-ofthree series with an 8-1 win over the Waterloo-Oxford Crusaders as Ashton Patterson and Jaymie Weicker led the offensive charge with two goals apiece. Owen Hilker, Andrew Fulton, Owen Bender and Ryan Schneider added singles, while Jack Holdsworth replied for Waterloo-Oxford.
Tyler Buder, Evan Drury, Ben Albrecht, Jon Richards and Nolan Lafrance scored for Huron Heights, in a 5-2 win over the KCI Raiders.
Jack McMurry and Riley Reid replied for the Raiders. Both series resume Tuesday. The WCSSAA girls hockey playoffs get underway Tuesday with four quarter-final games on the docket: Bluevale Knights (1) vs. KCI (8), Waterloo-Oxford (2) vs. Grand River (7), Galt Ghosts (3) vs. Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders (6), and Elmira Lancers (4) vs. Preston Panthers (5).