The Alberta-champion Rocky Mountain Raiders will have no shortage of motivation when they step on the ice to play the Northern Capitals Friday afternoon at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
They lost their chance to get their hands on the Mac's Female Midget Tournament trophy on New Year's Day in Calgary when the Capitals beat them 5-1 in the championship game.
Now, three months later, the stakes are even higher for both teams as they get set for the best-of-three Pacific regional championship. The series winner will advance to the Esso Cup national female midget triple-A hockey championship in Weyburn, Sask., April 17-23.
"It's going to be pretty incredible and definitely challenging," said Capitals defenceman Grace Barlow.
"Even with our success at Mac's, it doesn't mean we can take it easy and just think we're going to win this series. They're a great team and they have a lot of speed and they some great players and we just have to keep working hard and move the puck and see how that goes."
The Raiders were the highest-scoring team in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League, averaging 3.34 goals per game. They allowed just 70 goals this season, an average of 2.18 per game, and captured the regular season title with a 23-5-1-3 record.
Unlike the Capitals, who have leaned on Kelsey Roberts in the playoffs to carry the load in goal, the Cochrane, Alta.-based Raiders have split the netminding duties equally between Kate Lloyd and Erin Fargey. Lloyd made 25 saves in Sunday in a 2-1 win over the Calgary Fire in the Alberta league final in Grande Prairie, after Fargey posted a 21-save shutout in a 4-0 semifinal win over the Parkland Athletic Club (PAC) Saints of Spruce Grove.
The Capitals will have to contend with the Alberta league's No. 2 pointgetter -- Nicolette Seper -- who collected 24 goals and 37 points in 28 regular season games. The Raiders have three other top-10 scorers -- Paige Russell (8-16-24), Lacey Dimaulo (11-12-23) and Breanne Trotter (10-13-23).
"They're a well-rounded team," said Capitals head coach Mario Desjardins. "They were ahead of us 1-0 in the first period in the Mac's game and they actually took it to us in the first period, but then we came out firing in the second period and got four quick goals in span of about seven minutes and pretty much deflated their momentum."
The Capitals returned to practice Tuesday night for their first team session since they clinched their second-straight B.C. Female Midget Triple-A playoff championship March 19 in Coquitlam, where they defeated the Greater Vancouver Comets 1-0 in Game 2 of the provincial final. They rallied with four unanswered goals in Game 1 for a come-from-behind 4-2 win.
"We had a slow start, but we utilized our speed and were more aggressive down in the corners and really took away time and space and that really turned it around for us," said Desjardins.
"We were shooting to score. We've gone through the season scoring the least amount of goals since I've been a coach, but on the other hand we're pretty dominant in our defensive-zone coverage. It starts in the back end with great goaltending and we have a good defensive system and are hard on the puck and we have to bring the same mindset to this series against the Raiders."
The Capitals have no injuries to deal with heading into the series, but having a week off during spring break to rest up and reenergize was a good thing for the Capitals, according to Barlow.
"Because we are a zone team it was definitely nice to have the rest and for all the girls to go home and reconnect with their families and friends," said the 17-year-old Barlow, who will attend UNBC next fall on an academic scholarship.
"We know how we have to play and we've had longer breaks than this and have pulled off wins. I'm really excited to have a big crowd put there, hopefully. It should be great."
To bring their roster size up to 20 (the maximum allowed), the Capitals have added three players -- forward Mya Ziemer of Williams Lake (who played for the Prince George midget Tier 1 female Cougars), defenceman Sarah Jarvis of Quesnel (Quesnel midget house league) and defenceman Brooke Call of Williams Lake (Williams Lake Tier 1 midgets). Ziemer played for the Cougars in the final against the Comets.
In their only other Pacific regional experience, last year when they were known as the Northern female Cougars, the Prince George team traveled to Edmonton and lost in two straight to the Edmonton Thunder. The Cougars took the Thunder to triple overtime in Game 1, losing 3-2, then were eliminated the following day, 3-1 .
The Esso Cup was first awarded in 2009. The B.C. league formed in 2009-10 and the Cougars/Capitals have been involved since its inception.
"No team from B.C. has ever beaten Alberta to earn a berth to the Esso Cup and we'd like to make a bit of history for B.C. this weekend," said Desjardins. "This is something that's been on our radar all year, knowing that if we defended our championship from last year and won we'd be hosting the Pacific Cup.
"The girls are excited, playing for a home crowd, and we just hope people come out to support us."
Friday's game at Rolling Mix Arena, the rink formerly known as the Prince George Coliseum, starts at 4:45 p.m. Game 2 Saturday is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start. If a third game is needed, it would begin Sunday at 10 a.m.
