Ladies Tier 2 Wrap Up!

For the Ladies Tier 2 Championship Team Photo please click on the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157344636025422&set=gm.10157353426430584&type=3&theater

In our Ladies Tier 2 Division this year we saw the Shooter Girls reign supremem for good chunks of the regular season but falling 4 of their last 6 games opened the door for "Crossings" to swoop in and take the regular season divisional title which is exactly what happened.  Solid seasons by both the Shooter Girls and Crossings earned each team a first round bi to the Semi Finals.  While they were waiting, first round match up would consist of 3rd place "Flying Elbows" vs 6th place "Ringers" while 4th Place "Maidens Of Mayham" would square off against the "Lady XPress".

In game one of the Elbows/Ringers series we would see the Elbows fly out of the gates and jump out to an early 3-0 lead after 1. Each team would trade early goals in the 2nd before the Ringers chipped away at the lead scoring twice more to make things 4-3 allowing themselves the chance to draw things even late.  The Elbows however would hold on for game one victory lead by Mel Kloestra who tallied 3G & 1A.  Ringer goaltender Mel Sorensen was badly outshot in this one (41-23) but managed to hold her team in it enough to give them a chance until the end......Game #2 saw a much tigher battle out of the gate as no goal was scored in this one until late in the first when the Elbows got on the board once again led by M. Kloestra who scored her 4th goal of the series to give her team a 1-0 lead.  Teams would evenly trade chances in the 2nd before  Ringer Game one leader Jenna Sheppard once again bulged the twine to draw things even with 5 minutes remaining in the game.  Over time was needed in this one and not just one OT frame but two, as each team played cautiously during the extra time.  Eventually with just under 5 minutes remaining in the 2nd OT period Elbows goaltender Alex VanValkenberg decided to help her own cause as she assisted on the game winner scored by teammate Jocelyn Meertens to advance their playoff season to the semi finals!  The Ringers who were at the bottom of the division after the regular season battled hard in this series and certainly made their opponents work for their wins in two very tight games and this group of ladies should be very proud of how they ended their year.

The other quarter final series saw a rematch of the Tier 2 Ladies Winter Final where the Maidens would end up victorious in that series.  Game #1 of this series saw the XPress ladies capitalize on their chances led by Stephanie Fagan who recorded 2 of the teams 3 goals.  This coupled with the fact that XPress goaltender was seemingly unbeatable on this day as she turned away all 24 shots she faced made it so the XPress would jump out to a 1-0 series lead........Game #2 would see the Maidens Ladies answer in a huge way as they put up a commanding 5-1 victory to draw things even at 1 game a piece and forcing a do or die game 3........Game #3 saw the XPress jump out to a 2-0 first period lead with Steph Demelo chalking up a goal and an assit.   Maidens would finally answer with a late marker with only 0:49 left in the period.  They would draw things even with goal from Mogan Powell early into the 2nd and it would stay this way until there was just over 6 minutes remaining and once again S. Demelo would strike for the Lady XPress to give her team a short lived 3-2 lead.  The lead would not last 3 minute before Maidens forward Hailey Burbine burry on a scoring play to tie this game up once again and force a sudden overtime situation to decide the series.  Double over time would again be needed for this Ladies Game extra frame which saw the Lady XPress group out chance the Maidens team only to run into their net minder who was consistantly up to the task until her counter part mishandled a shoot in late in the 2nd OT period allowing Madiens forward M. Powell to bang in the rebound and advance her club to the next round in dramatic fashion.  The XPress who continue to improve will now regroup need to find away to get past their now rival Maidens of Mayham opponents.

Semi Final #1 featured the 2nd place Shooter Girls against the 3rd place Flying Elbows.  Game #1 one of this series potentially expossed some rust from the Shooter Girls which is common from a team who were sitting idle for the first round.  Teh Elbows Mel Kloestra continued to be their hottest player as she netted goals 5 and 6 of the playoffs to star this one, #17 Lindsay Crawford also chimed in with a G & A of her own.  Young net minder Sara McPherson was more than solid in this one pitching the 4-0 shutout while turning away all 32 shots she faced to acjheive the games first star.......Shooter Girls goaltender (Ashley Jackson) put on a performance of her own in Game #2 as she stymied the Elbows offence by stuffing them on 27 or their 28 shots while forward Lynda Kenny #22 was is on all the Shooters goals totaling 1 G and 2 A enroute to a 3-1 Victory to tie the series and force a game 3.....3 was a tight checkignn affair which resulted in neither team producing an abundance of shots on net.  With that said, Elbows goaltender who did not play in game 2 once again pitched a shut out for her 2nd straight game stopping all 12 shots sent her way.  Star Forwards Crawford and Kloestra continued to lead the way up front for the Flying Elbows squad as each would light the lamp while the Shooter Girls proved unable to strike in this one and therfore were sent off to enjoy the rest of their summer earlier than they surely wanted too.  Big steps were taken by the Shooter Girls team so I would look for them to build on their sucessfrom this season as we move forward.  The Flying Elbows on the other hand were now in the finals and in a a position to go for the division crown!.

Semi Final #2 displayed the Witner tier 2 Champions "Maidens of Mayham" up against the summer regular season leaders in "Crossings".   Game #1 would show both teams looking sluggish as the first period shots would only see a 5-2 edge for Crossings but they made the best of their oppertunites and led 2-0 after 1, they would ramp up their play and take it to the Maidens as they found their legs and out shot they Mayham team 9-3 while notching out 2 more goals on the scoreboard.  In doing so the Crossings team would win 4-0 and take a 1-0 series lead........Crossing would make seemingly easy work of the Maidens as they quickly popped out to a 4-0 lead and held on for a convincing 6-3 win to oust their opponents from the playoffs and advance themselves to the Tier 2 Finals while doing so.  The Maidens continue to improve as a team but maybe gassed themselves out a bit in the opening round....one thing we know for sure is that the Maidens of Mayham will be back and ready to battle whom ever they face.

Our Ladies Tier 2 Final featured the top seeded Crossings team against the 3rd Seeded Flying Elbows team who only 2 years ago won the Tier 2 Championship.  The team had split up substantially following that summer season but this summer a good number of them teamed up again to play as a unit and subsequently have picked up where they left off 2 years ago when they all played for the Laides Tier 2 Final then. Crossings have been one of the top Tier 2 teams both last Winter & Summer seasons but were unable to get the job done in the playoffs.  Now under new bench boss David Dudzic they found themselves in the Finals & hopefing to finally reign supreme.....Game #1 was a very evenly fought game if you discount the kloestra factor who scored her 8th goal of the post season to give the Elbows a 2-0 lead and added 2 more Apples before this game was over.  It would end 3-1 in favor of the Elbows with Mel Kloestra's 3 points leading the way while each tendy were strong between the pipes.....Game #2 would see goaltending front and center again as each played fantastic and only a goal mid way throuh the first would get by in this one.  The goal came from Crossings player Kati Hawking who also scored their only goal in game #1 but this time her goal was enough to earn her team the W as well as herself the games first star.  Crossings goalie Janet Anderson would put up a 12 save easter egg for the second star and Elbows secondary goalie Alex Van Alkenburg would put in an impressive performance for the games 3rd star......Ball Hockeys version of a game 7 was up next and was anyones game.  Both teams came out strong and each team would trade goals in the opening period which saw a sligh edge to the Crossings Ladies.  The goaltenders were once again locked in for this one and as the second period played out the Elbows took over momentum but due to goaltending, overtime looked very much imminent.  That is until a Crossing body checking penalty gave the Elbows team a chance to acquire the lead and possibly seal the victory in the process.  With time winding down on the power play and no gola to show for it, star forward Mel Koestra would once again make an impact play as she set up linemate Kat Vanboxmeer for a PP marker to give the Elbows a slim 2-1 lead with 6 minutes remaining. Despite being badly out played for the majority of the 2nd period the Crossings team were only one goal behind and instead of rolling over they fought back and wiht a late push came close to tying things on a couple of occassions but just fell short of doing so.  Kat Vanboxmeer of the Elbows would be the games 1st star with a G & A while goaltenders  Kirk (Crossings) and McPherson (Elbows) would take the games remaining two stars. 

Crossings remain to be on the buble of breaking though to that next level and dispite falling just short this season, they have to recognize that they just got that much closer to achieving that goal.  The Flying Elbows on the other hand "Back In The Saddle Again" For how long is yet to be determined....Congrats to the Flying Elbows for thier Tier 2 Championship and to the rest of the division for a hard fought season.