The Northern Capitals are undefeated three games into round robin play at the Mac's Triple-A Midget Hockey Tournament in Calgary.
Capitals goalie Kelsey Roberts shut out the Melville Prairie Fire in a 3-0 win on Boxing Day. Roberts repeated her performance on Sunday, stopping all 26 shots the Calgary Fire threw at her in the Capital's 1-0 win.
Tamara William stepped between the pipes for the Capitals on Monday, for the team's game against the Kootenay Wild.
Victoria Byer set up Marissa Nichol to score first blood against the Wild nine minutes into the first period.
The Wild's Tianna Ewasiuk tied things up five minutes later, scoring the first goal against the Capitals of the tournament.
A hooking penalty against Caily Mellott allowed the Wild to take a 2-1 lead early in the second period. The Wild's Kelsey Patterson scored in the final seconds of the powerplay, putting the Capitals at a goal disadvantage for the first time in three games.
But a tripping penalty against the Wild's Tyler Carver with 10:43 left in the second period gave the Capitals' Myah Bowal the opportunity she needed to tie it up.
Kenna Lloyd picked up the assist for Bowal's goal.
The teams headed into the third period tied 2-2. The Wild's penalty killers kept the Capitals scoreless after Merrisa Dawson earned herself a trip to the sin bin for a check to the head.
It looked like the teams were heading to overtime, until the Nichol-Byer line struck again in the final 50 seconds of regulation time, making it 3-2. The Wild pulled goalie Catlalina Hartland for the final seconds of the game, but the extra attacker wasn't enough to beat the Capitals.
It was Hartland's effort in net that kept the Wild in the game until the final minute. She stopped 28 of 31 shots, compared to William's 15 stops.
The Capitals have today off, then play the Vancouver Island Seals on Wednesday in their final game of the round robin. The Seals are undefeated in two games. They play the Calgary Fire today.
Cariboo Cougars
In the male division of the Mac's tournament, the Cariboo Cougars bounced back on Monday after taking a 5-2 thumping from the undefeated Lloydminster Bandit Pipeline Bobcats on Sunday.
The Cougars' Riley Coish and Chase Dubois can take pride knowing they scored the only two goals of the tournament so far against the dominant Bobcats. The Bobcats' goalie Austin McGrath shut out the Ontario Avalanche in an 8-0 win on Boxing Day, and the Foothills CFR Chemical Bisons couldn't solve McGrath in Monday's 5-0 win.
The Cariboo Cougars took on the Yorkton Rawtec Maulers on Monday in Calgary's Max Bell Centre.
The puck had barely dropped when Mauler Derrick Budz stuffed it into the Cats' net -a mere 18 seconds into the game.
But the Cougars kept their heads, and nine minutes into the first period Trey Thomas tied the game 1-1 off an assist from Daine Dubois.
A cross-checking penalty against Mauler Austin Shumanski later in the period gave the Cats' Josh Maser a chance to solve Yorkton goalie Alex Geddes and give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
Jeremy Gervais and Chris Jandric earned the assists on Maser's goal.
The Cougars held onto the lead for 17-and-a-half minutes of the second period. But when Darian Long took a penalty for a check to the head, the Maulers' Keenan and Kaeden Taphorn used the opportunity to tie it up at 2-2.
Early in the third period, the Cougars' Jesse Pomeroy scored the game-winner for the Cougars, with assists from Thomas and Joel Patsey.
Chase Dubois picked up the go-ahead goal in the final minute of the third, leaving the score at 4-2.
The Cougars will be hunting the Bisons Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. in their third game of the round robin.
