Hennes earns first SFMAAAHL win over Hounds
The Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats battled their way to a 2-0 win over the host Notre Dame Hounds last week in Wilcox.
“We were happy with the way we played,” said head coach Terry Pavely. “We outshot them 31-17 and I just thought that we stuck with it. I thought in the first couple periods we were fighting the puck a little bit, it seemed like every time we had it it bounced off our stick. We just kept telling them to stay com- posed and be strong on their sticks and work hard and our girls stuck with it.”
“We played really good,” added goaltender Loghan Hennes. “We did a good job of keeping the play out of our own end. We really picked it up in the third period and played really good then. We had a little bit of a lag in the first two periods but still played pretty good.”
The Hounds entered the contest with a 1-6-0-0 record in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League but were able to bolster their roster with a few players from their Junior Women’s Hockey League squad.
“This wasn’t going to be a one-win team, they dressed a few kids that this would be their only game on the AAA team coming from the JWHL team. I was pretty happy with our girls to fight through that and find a way to win against a team that nobody else in the league will see this year,” explained Pavely.
The Wildcats failed to score on any of their 14 shots over the opening 40 minutes before scoring twice in a dominating third-period effort when they fired 21 shots on goal.
Tori Kendall broke the scoreless tie 2:08 into the third period when she shoveled home a rebound from in tight on the Wildcats’ 18th shot of the evening, her second goal on the campaign.
Dayna Winzer added an insurance goal to help seal the win with 4:51 left in regulation, her fourth goal of the season.
“We reminded our kids that we play our best when our feet are moving and when we cycle the puck. I thought we did an excellent job of controlling the play in the offensive zone,” he said and noted that the team’s off-ice conditioning has been helping the team in third periods this season.
Hennes picked up her first win with 17 saves in the shutout. Winzer, Kayla Kirwan, Kendall, and Brooklyn Haubrich all picked up assists in the win. Amanda Zeglen took the loss despite making 33 saves for the Hounds.
Playing on the Olympic size ice at Duncan McNeill Arena in front of a rowdy crowd always presents some unique challenges in Wilcox.
“I think the biggest thing is you have to learn to use the ice. Wingers really want to gravitate to the middle and we preach to our kids to stay to the outside and if you move it cross-ice it has got to be a hard pass. The other big thing is on the powerplay there is more seams, so you have to look back door. Then when you are penalty killing you have to be aware that your sticks have to be in a better spot so that they can’t go through the diamond or the box,” said Pavely.
“We don’t want to change the way we play. We like the way we play and we think that we are a top-end team. We want teams to try and play to our style and we don’t want to change too much,” he added.
Hennes wasn’t tested often in the contest but she made some key saves to keep the game scoreless.
“Yeah I thought Loghan Hennes just played a great game. Early on, we have kind of been putting her in spots where we thought she would have success as a rookie. The last few weeks she has been getting a lot of practice and maybe not as much game time as she wanted.”
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