When the Prince George Scotiabank peewee female Cougars went looking for a goaltender this hockey season, Tessa Sturgeon was the only one who applied for the job.
Considering what the 11-year-old did to frustrate the Kamloops Mystix on Kin 2 ice in Sunday's Prince George tournament final there's no need for the Cougars to consider any other option.
Sturgeon kept her team's title hopes alive with a breakaway stop on Mystix sniper Natalie Knight in overtime, then made one last stand in the shootout to smother a shot from Cassidy Stasiuk to give the Cougars a 3-2 victory.
Sturgeon turned aside the first shootout attempt from Knight, then watched Nicole Thomas lift a high shot wide of the net. The next shooter, Prince George forward Jadyn Hickey, took off down the left wing with speed and finished with an inside-out forehand deke to score on goalie Rebekah Schmutz. When Stasiuk missed, the celebration was on.
"I was nervous at first because it was my first shootout but I just kept it together," said Sturgeon. "In practices we have shootouts and I always win those so I just thought of it as practice. I'm used to the pressure of being the only goalie because there aren't a lot of girl goalies my age."
Sturgeon's best save came 3:08 into overtime when she got her leg down to smother Knight's breakaway shot. Kamloops dominated the third period and had the Cougars pinned in their own zone for the first two minutes of overtime but Sturgeon kept it tied.
Hickey and Hannah Cockle scored in regulation time for the Cougars. Knight and Carmyn Filimek were the Kamloops goalscorers.
"My dad [head coach Brett Hickey] told me in practices to practice that move in case it helps us in shootouts and I was really happy he gave me that move because, as you can see, it works," said the 12-year-old Hickey. "Tessa kept us in there. I was really proud of the girls, we worked hard and didn't give up."
The Cougars got better as the weekend progressed, recovering from an 0-2 start and a fourth-place round-robin finish. They lost their opener 8-1 to Kamloops and were defeated 8-3 by the Scotiabank atom house 1 boys team, but reversed the losing trend with a 5-4 win Saturday over West Kootenay. The Cougars then got two goals from Justine Guillet and a single from Kelsey Dent in 3-2 playoff win over the the boys squad that put them into the final.
Kamloops also beat the Cougars in the Kamloops tournament, by a 5-1 count.
"Third time lucky, they took it to us pretty good after the first period and it was a good game with lots of chances each way," said Brett Hickey. "Tessa made a lot of great saves throughout the tournament."
The Cougars, who won a tournament in Vancouver two weekends ago, will try to become repeat winners of the Surrey tournament, Feb. 7-9.
