The Gold Wings travelled to Winnipeg Manitoba to participate in the Shaftesbury Titans tournament on January 15, 16 and 17. We started out the tournament with a game against the Shattuck St. Mary’s Sabres U19 team. This team was very skilled and competitive and the hockey was fast. We lost the game 5-2. Our next game was against the Peace Country Storm. Our team played well and worked hard to come out on top of this game with a score of 3-2.
Then we had an early game against the Westman Wildcats, this team as well made us work hard and stick to the basics. We were able to pull off another win taking this game with a score of 4-2. Then we were matched up against the Saskatoon Stars. This was an exciting game as we had just played them twice last weekend and split our games with them. The game was fast paced and adrenaline rushing — we played well and worked together as a team. The game ended in a tie and we went into a five-minute overtime.
At the end of the five minutes we were yet to crown a winner, and the game went into a shootout where we won! Chantal Burke, netminder for the Gold Wings, did an absolutely fantastic job of deflecting and stopping all shots coming her directions. We then moved on to the semi finals. It was awesome to hear the crowd cheering and the excitement in the crowd as the Regina Rebels were also in attendance and cheering us on!
We were matched with the Shattuck St.Mary’s Sabres U19 team in the semi finals. They once again came out strong — we worked hard, made a few mistakes which this skilled team was quick to capitalize on. In the end the Gold Wings came up short and lost the game 7-3 and moved on to play for bronze. In the bronze medal game we were matched against the Shattuck St.Mary’s Sabres U16 team. This team also came out strong and ensured we stuck with our game play. They did not allow us any room for error as they would capitalize on these errors. After 50 minutes of fast-paced, hard-fought hockey the Gold Wings took the bronze medal with a score of 3-1.
Overall this tournament provided our team with some excellent competition and hard fought matches. In the end we came together, worked as a team and were successful. It was a great tournament where we had lots of fun and were successful.
In regular league play, we played two games against the Melville Prairie Fire on January 22 and 23. First, we travelled to Melville to take on the Prairie Fire. It was a back and forth game and we ended regular time with a 4-4 tie. The game went into overtime and the Gold Wings put one in the net to secure the win. This was an exciting game as the Prairie Fire had many activities going on to support breast cancer research. The Gold Wings were happy to have been a part of this exciting game for Melville and were happy to support their team.
For the next game, the Prairie Fire travelled to Weyburn for a rematch. The Gold Wings were on our game and were prepared to take a win. We played well and things went our way — we secured a win with a 5-1 win. Chantal Burke had the win in net for the Gold Wings both games.
Last week we were busy with school as we wrote our Semester 1 finals at WCS. This always proves to be a stressful time and practice, workout and hockey have taken the back burner for most of us during the week.
