Shootouts had been the bane of Team Saskatchewan's existence heading into Wednesday's quarterfinal women's hockey playoff against B.C.
The girls from Saskatchewan lost their opener Saturday to Manitoba in a shootout and suffered a similar fate against Alberta on Monday. So guess what they worked on in practice Tuesday?
"We did shootouts for 10 minutes in practice because we knew we might get to one and that's the only move I scored on (Tuesday) in practice,"said Saskatchewan captain Jaycee Gebhard, whose high backhand deke on B.C. goalie Morgan Skinner proved the difference in a 4-3 win Wednesday at Kin 2, which eliminated B.C. from medal contention.
"We were kind of saying on the bench, third one's the charm - we knew this one was ours. It's amazing to be playing for a medal. I've been on the team three years and we've only won one game (a 6-0 victory Sunday over Nova Scotia) and we've never finished past seventh."
Saskatchewan dodged a bullet in the late stages of regulation time, forced to kill two penalties late in the third period. Backed by goalie Jessica Vance, the penalty-killers came through for them again in overtime when Sydney Hill got sent off for roughing.
Then to open the shootout, Vance was at the mercy of Sarah Potomak, B.C.'s leading scorer, but Potomak rang a high shot off the goal post. In the second round, the 17-year-old goalie from Prince Albert wasn't fooled by Amy Potomak's drag move across the crease. After Gebhard scored, Vance ended it with a standup save on Leona Sim.
"I just knew what to work on from the last two shootouts and got it done - the goal post is my friend," said Vance. "Everyone worked hard on killing those penalties, we knew what we had to do, we didn't want them to score."
Sarah Potomak tied it 42 seconds into the third period, taking the puck in deep from the blueline and wristing a shot high on Vance for her second goal and third point of the game. Amber Rennie scored twice for Saskatchewan and Talia Terry gave them the lead 10 minutes into the second period after Maegan Beres had tied it for B.C.
"There were times we could have buried it but their goalie played well and their PK was unbelievable, and I'm not blaming it on that," said Sarah Potomak, a 17-year-old from Aldergrove. "Obviously it didn't go our way but I have no regrets about this team and I'm proud of how everybody played. Just in the end, things didn't go our way.
"It doesn't feel good to lose. It sucks to let your province down but we're not finished here yet. We'll come out hard (in the relegation round Thursday) and finish strong."
B.C. went 0-for-6 on the power play while Saskatchewan was 1-for-5. Special teams have been a sore spot for B.C. since the tournament began Saturday.
"Our power play has been tough all week and not scoring on it hurt us tonight," said B.C. coach Sylvain Leone. "It wasn't that our penalty kill let us down. We weren't alert on three draws that they scored on and every phase of the game I thought we were as good or better.
"Their goalie made some good saves, especially late in the game and in the overtime they had people doing what they needed to do to block shots. I thought we carried the play 4-on-4, but just couldn't bury it. It's very disappointing for these girls after everything they put into it."
In other quarterfinal action Wednesday, Quebec doubled New Brunswick 4-2, Ontario defeated Nova Scotia 3-1 and Alberta edged Manitoba 2-1. The semifinals are set for 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. today at CN Centre. In the first semifinal, Saskatchewan will skate against Quebec and in the second semi Ontario will take on Alberta.
