Ice Kats U15A headed to provincial championship
The Peterborough U15A Ice Kats have a Southern League championship in their bag and are hoping to add a provincial title this weekend.
The Ice Kats knocked off the No. 1-ranked London Devilettes, 3-2 in a shootout, in the gold-medal game as the lone Peterborough Girls Hockey Association (PGHA) team to make it to the Southern League Championship Day on Saturday.
They’re also one of 11 PGHA teams to qualify for the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) provincial championships being held Friday through Sunday across the GTA.
There were 48 teams competing in five divisions throughout the season to earn their berth in the Southern League Championship tournament. It’s the largest girls’ hockey league in Canada, encompassing U9 to U22, from Windsor to Kingston, and as far north as Sudbury.
The Devilettes were the No. 1ranked U15A girls’ team in Canada and enjoyed an undefeated regular season and nearly perfect playoff run. The Ice Kats were ranked third in Canada and also had an impressive year, recording only one loss in the regular season and taking home hardware in four tournaments.
The Ice Kats led the east division, securing first place in the regular season and were perfect in the playoffs against the Whitby Wolves, Durham West Lightning and Scarborough Sharks to advance.
In Round 2, the Ice Kats faced off against the North Simcoe Capitals in a home-and-home series. The Kats took the first game, 4-0, then travelled to Midland, where the Kats gave up a 2-0 lead to the Caps, giving them a tie to stay alive, forcing Game 3.
A standing-room-only crowd at the Kinsman arena on Easter Saturday saw the Kats come out on top and punch their ticket to the championship final.
Against London, the Ice Kats took the lead in the first period, with Addie Hulsman scoring from the point. London answered right back with a power-play goal in the dying minutes of the first.
After a scoreless second period, London went up 2-1 early in the third. Isabelle Casselman pinched hard from the blue line, sending a bullet to the back of the net to send the game into sudden death overtime and eventually a shootout.
Both goalies, including Peterborough’s Vanessa Anderson, were exceptional. After four shooters from each team, Peterborough came out on top with the lone goal from Addie Moher.
“We had an opportunity to scout London’s last two games and develop a bit of a game plan,” said Ice Kats coach Chris Moher. “We spent a week in advance going over that plan and executing some of our tactics and how we would respond. When we got to the game, the girls pulled the game plan off beautifully.
“To be on the winning side of the shootout, especially with my daughter scoring, was a pretty special moment for our whole team and our family.”
He let the girls celebrate their championship before emphasizing at the next practice that their work wasn’t done.
“I had an old coach Paul Crowley once say, ‘Don’t fall in love with yourself.’ That was the message Monday in practice. We were now diverting our attention to provincials and that is our new goal. For a week we need to put our work boots back on and understand it’s going to take that same effort and even more as many of the teams will be putting together their best games to beat us after we took out London,” he said.
They must win their pool — which includes Mooretown, Barrie and St. Catharines — to advance to the quarterfinals.
Other PGHA teams to qualify for provincials include U9A, U11A, U11BB, U13AA, U15AA, U15BB, U18AA, U18A, U18BB and Senior B.
The Ice Kats knocked off the No. 1-ranked London Devilettes, 3-2 in a shootout, in the gold-medal game as the lone Peterborough Girls Hockey Association team to make it to the Southern League Championship Day