Northern Bears working toward turnaround ahead of holiday break
The Mann-Northway Northern Bears are sitting in the middle of the pack a third of the way through the season.
The Bears currently hold a 2-5-1-3 (W-L-OTW-OTL) record through 11 games in the Sask. Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL), good enough for fifth place out of seven.
Prince Albert is coming off a rough weekend in Regina, suffering similar back-to-back losses to the Rebels, falling 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday and 3-2 in overtime on Sunday. Out of their last six losses, four have been decided by just one goal. Head coach Steve Young said those games come down to one factor.
“When you get into one-goal games, it gets harder to play because you’re always wondering which way the game is going to go. So, I think for a hockey club, we just got to understand right now that we have to get more pucks in the net. And that’s not telling players, ‘You have to score, you have to score,’ but we have to create opportunities to score, which means we have to go into the hard areas to play. That’s something we’re working on here this week.”
Despite falling on the short end of the stick in some games, Young added that there are tons of positive takeaways.
“I’m happy with the work ethic of the girls, happy with the ability for them to be prepared to understand what we’re trying to do here. Now it’s just a matter of putting it together, and hopefully with our games here before Christmas, we can get in that mode.”
Londyn Hoffman leads the team in the points department so far with seven (1G-6A), followed by last year’s leading scorer Jersie Andersen with six (2G-4A), and rookie Andie Marshall with four (2G-2A). In goal, Avery Brunen and Maggie Schell have split time between the pipes, with Brunen donning a 2-3 (W-L) record, a 2.20 GAA and a .941 SV%, while Schell posts a 1-5 record with a 2.59 GAA and .926 SV%.
“It’s set up here to be a team effort, and we need that type of thing,” explained Young, when asked about the scoring depth on the team. “This is a very strong, tough league, so when you don’t have that experience, you know, it makes it that much tougher. But the girls are learning the hard way and, as a team, they’re coming together and prepared to do the things they have to do.”
The team has six games left before the holiday break, including four against Swift Current, and one each versus Weyburn and the Battlefords.
The Northern Bears will begin the calendar countdown on Sunday afternoon when they welcome Weyburn to the Art Hauser Centre for their final meeting of the season. Puck drop is set for 1:30 p.m.
DOWN THE STRECH By Logan Lehmann
PANOW17-Nov-24