The scoreline of Sunday's 6-3 loss to the first-place Greater Vancouver Comets failed to highlight the small victories for the Northern Capitals in their B.C. Female Midget Triple-A game Sunday morning at CN Centre.
Down 6-1 in the third period, the no-quit Capitals kept skating, kept checking, kept getting pucks deep into the Comet end and their efforts paid off. Capitals veteran Wynona Creyke crashed the net and was rewarded when a rebound bounced off her body and in her second goal of the game. Late in the period, rookie Kelsey Dent laid a perfect pass on the stick of linemate Hayley Stephen and before Comets goalie Kaitlyn Daly had time to react, the puck was in the net.
The damage had already been done, much of it created by Comets 15-year-old forward Jenna Buglioni, who had two goals and three assists, but the Capitals left the ice following their last home game of the season with heads high, satisfied that they are getting better with each game.
"I think we played well, we played aggressive and we just have to stay that way going into playoffs, and just keep the shots coming and I'm sure it will work itself out and we'll do well," said Capitals captain Danielle Corrigan, who assisted on Creyke's second goal Sunday.
The Comets have the top two scorers in the league in Buglioni and Jenn Gardiner. Gardiner had a goal and two assists Sunday, while Devynn Dion scored twice and drew an assist Sunday against the Capitals.
The Caps lost the other two games of the weekend series to the Comets, 5-2 on Friday and 7-1 and Saturday, but for the most part felt good about what they did on the ice in the three-game set against the two-time defending regular season champions.
"That really boosts our confidence going into playoffs, we've improved so much from the beginning of the year, when we couldn't compete with this team, but now we can compete with them and that makes us feel great going into playoffs," said the 18-year-old Creyke, who grew up playing on outdoor rinks at Dease Lake.
"If we play like we did today in the playoffs against Thompson we can definitely beat them. Our passes were really good this game, we were quick on our feet and not giving up on the puck and we were first to the puck whenever we could be. We just kept moving our feet and we had good communication "
Jalacey Friesen, an import goalie from Manitoba, made 24 saves in the Northern Capital nets.
"We played hard and that's a hard team to play against, for sure, but I counted the shots and it looked like we got 30 shots and they got 27 - I'm impressed with my girls and the way they responded," said Capitals head coach Megan Price.
The season started with a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Island Seals back on Oct. 6, but three months passed before the Capitals tasted victory again. They finally ended a 15-game losing streak Jan. 13 in Vernon, beating the Thompson-Okanagan Lakers 2-0. They won four of their next 11 games to finish with a 6-26-0 record.
"It's been a rough road for sure the first half of the season with just one win, the first game of the season, and then we had this big lull and we struggled with putting the puck in the net," said Price.
"In the second half of the season we went back to the drawing board as coaches and started back with the basics of hockey - shoot the puck, get the puck out of our end, tape-to-tape passes everyone is ready to receive and it's worked for sure. We've got six wins on the season now and wins in the second half which is a way better result."
The 17-year-old Corrigan is one of only eight returning players from last year's league finalist Capitals team and she admits it's taken time for the new players to gel under coaches Price, Dayle Poulin and Scott Fanshaw. The 16-player roster includes three bantam-aged players - Dent, and defencemen Jordan Maloney and Brooklyn Hill.
"We had a tough start because we have a young team and some of the girls didn't understand the systems but we worked on it through practice and we're doing better and we're just peaking now, which is a good time to peak," said Corrigan.
"Last year went into the season as underdogs and a lot of people didn't think we could do it but we came out and went to finals and hopefully we'll have the same result this year. We had a rough start but we did pretty good in the second half."
All five teams in the league make the playoffs and the Capitals will begin a best-of-three series on Friday in Vernon against the Lakers.
Corrigan likes the fact her team will be playing the Lakers in the playoffs, knowing they've played their best games this season against Thompson-Okanagan. Each team has won three games.
"When we play the Lakers we play our best because we play pretty aggressive and we get the shots off, too," said Corrigan. "We match up pretty well with them."
The winner of that series will advance to a best-of-three semifinal against the Comets in Vancouver. That same weekend, the Seals will face the Fraser Valley Rush in the other semifinal series. The winner of that series will advance to a best-of-three semifinal against the Comets in Vancouver. That same weekend, the Seals will face the Fraser Valley Rush in the other semifinal matchup.
