U18 Wildcats ready to respond against Selects

It’s as close as you could get to a must-win game, there’s no way around it.

The Westman Wildcats are searching for a bounce back effort tonight in Hartney for Game 2 against the Eastman Selects after dropping the first contest of their best-of-five Manitoba Female Hockey League U18 AAA semifinal matchup at the Niverville Community Resource and Recreation Centre on Monday.

“There’s always more pressure this time of year and it does feel like we are in a do-or-die situation come (tonight) even though it’s a best-of-five series,” said head coach Karissa Kirkup on Wednesday. “This is a vital win and obviously it’s not over till it’s over, but it’s gonna be really important that we use the support of our crowd and the support of each other and just play our game.

“I believe totally that this group can get the job done, so hopeful that things will just go a little bit smoother for us in Game 2.”

Rachel Lyver, Charlie Shearer and captain Ivy Perkin scored for Westman in its opening game, but it ultimately wasn’t enough as Eastman grabbed a 5-3 win thanks to a two-goal effort from Émilie Carrière and three-point showing from Delainey Rigaux. The biggest difference maker in the game, though, was special teams.

The Wildcats went 0-3 on the power play while their opponents capitalized on the man advantage twice with goals from Carrière and Isabella Carrière in the middle frame to help their club to a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Although the numbers may not back it up, Kirkup believes her squad’s play on the penalty kill was encouraging.

“Our penalty kill actually looked good I thought,” she said. “Eastman try to go from kind of the top in the quarterback position and then pass to the flank trying to go cross ice for that backdoor play and so I thought we did a good job going out to our positions.

“Our PK has definitely improved in the last 5 games and that’s something we were talking about and going over in practice last week, but again, the main thing would be to just stay out of the box.”

Staying disciplined is certainly a key for Westman, but it will also hope for less equipment shenanigans than it had in Game 1.

Late in the second period one of the Wildcats defenders had their laces stepped on, which required some maintenance from equipment staff and left their blue line shorthanded, and then 30 seconds later, goaltender Shannon Hees also needed assistance after one of her pads had come off due to a broken strap.

The delay with Hees’ strap actually had Westman’s other netminder Indigo Stone step into the game to finish off the period. Stone then finished the game off in the third period after Kirkup was looking to spark some more energy for her bench. The pair combined to make 22 saves in Game 1, while Eastman’s Addison Tomes made 15 stops. Kirkup said Stone will backstop the Wildcats for Game 2 at home and then the’ll continue to make decisions as they come.

Her biggest emphasis for tonight is ensuring her team gets back to playing freely and creativity, a brand of hockey which helped them in their first round series sweep against the Pembina Valley Hawks, but maybe got a bit away from them against a veteran Selects team that won the championship last year.

“For us, I think that’s what it’s about” said Kirkup. “We’ve done an awesome job at keeping our group collectively working hard, working together and just playing Wildcats hockey, so it’s just whether we come with our mindset and our mentality to play Wildcats hockey for 60 minutes.

“Eastman does have a lot of depth and they do have a lot of experience with the age factor and they won it last year and they’re looking to do so again, but we have younger players that have won at the U15 level and know how to make that push and know how to go through adversity with our leadership group too.”

Following tonight’s battle, the two teams will head back to Niverville for Game 3 on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. If necessary, Game 4 is in Hartney on Wednesday, March 11 at 8 p.m. and Game 5 is in Niverville on Friday at 8 p.m.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com