Capitals go 3-0 on Thompson trip
Posted By Laura Shantora Nelles, Central Plains Herald-Leader
Posted 2 months ago
The Central Plains Capitals Midget AAA girls were on the road last weekend for a three-game series against the Norman Wild, sweeping the series with three decisive wins.
"We knew going up there that they weren't going to be the strongest team in the league," Caps head coach Ferdi Nelissen said of the Wild, who are in their first year in the league.
The Caps had a solid effort in the first game, Nov. 13 defeating the Wild 10-2 in Thompson. Recently returned power forward Natasha Kostenko, who was away representing Manitoba at the Under-18 National championships in B.C., led the way with a six-point night, registering four goals and two assists.
Maggie Girard had two goals, Stephanie Fehr adding a single. Taylor McVannel had a two-point night as well, chipping in a goal and an assist.
Alyson Vercaigne, Lindsay Blight and Courtney Nichol all had two assists with Callan Harland picking up one.
Jacey Schettler was between the pipes for the first match, handling 20 of the 22 shots she faced.
"She was very good," Nelissen commented on his rookie netminder. "She made some big saves, and the two goals she allowed were not her fault. We had travelled all day, and we were a little bus-weary, and faded a bit."
On. Nov. 14, the girls had another strong outing, with Jessica Hewko picking up the shutout. Kostenko, McVannel, Harland, Girard, Fehr, Nichol and Shaye Nelissen all scored, indicative of the Caps' depth both up front and on the back end.
Girard also added a pair of assists, while Dakotah Boehlig, Jennifer Bell, Jordan Robertson, Nelissen, Kostenko, Nichol, Harland and Fehr put single assists on the point tally, as well.
"We had one bad period all weekend," said Nelissen. "The girls were trying to be too individual, and that was the second period in the second game."
The third game saw the Caps take to the ice Nov. 15, coming up with a big 9-0 win. Kostenko had a whopping four goals on the night and now leads the league in goals and points, while Boehlig, Harland, Nelissen, Girard and Nichol each added one. McVannel and Nelissen had three assists each, Vercaigne two and Bell and Kostenko each with one. Schettler was back between the pipes, picking up a shutout of her own.
"The second period of the third game, we didn't score at all," said the coach.
"Their goaltending was very good," he explained. "It might not look that way, but we were averaging close to 60 shots a game."
The Caps had almost all players back, with the exception of Jillene Rodgers, who sustained a concussion a couple weeks back. Kostenko was a big presence for her team as usual, and Nelissen said she "played very well. She's a physical presence. She plays the same way all the time. She doesn't take shifts off, and if she does, you know there's something wrong."
Nelissen said he was impressed with the Wild's effort.
"They never quit. They have two good coaches, they're trying to build a program," he said, noting nobody was expecting a brand new team to finish at the top of the league, but the team's effort was encouraging.
He was also very pleased with his team's netminding. "Neither one of our goalies had more than 10 or 11 shots (in the shutout games). Jessica Hewko had to stop about four breakwaways, though. When the defencemen are pinching, you can't have all three forwards down low and a second D within 20 feet of the goal," he said.
"If the puck squeaks out, even if you miss a shot and it goes around the boards, all of a sudden you got a 3-on-1. You need to play the same game all the time, based on systems. We'd all of a sudden have too many people down low, so both girls (Hewko and Schettler) had to make some big saves. We've always been quite pleased with them. They're both first-year kids, and they're improving all the time."
The Capitals now sit in first place in the Manitoba Midget AAA Female Hockey League with their 5-2-1 record on the season.
The girls are back home in the Central Plains Region on Saturday evening as the Pembina Valley Hawks come to visit. The Hawks are undefeated as of yet this season.
"They had a girl on the Under-18 team with Natasha, and another named as an alternate and so did we," said Nelissen, explaining the Caps and the defending league champion Hawks are fairly evenly matched. "Depth-wise, they have more experience in goal with two third-year goalies. But we match up very well. We've lost to them 1-0, 6-4, 5-4. We've been in every game and played well enough to beat them. We just need to figure out a way to do it, and hopefully that's this weekend."
The game will be played in MacGregor. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
sports@cpheraldleader.com
