Chiefs 2 Stars 1 (SO)
Abba had the Dancing Queen; the Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs have the Shootout Queen.
Mairead Bast’s shootout clincher, her second of the tournament, lifted the Chiefs over the Saskatoon Stars 2-1 Friday night at the Arena and into today’s 3:30 p.m. championship final of the Esso Cup tournament versus the Ontario champion Sudbury Lady Wolves.
Due to the format allowed in the Canadian midget girls hockey championship shootouts, players are allowed to go more than once after each team has used three different shooters.
For Bast, it was her second try after striking the post on her first attempt. She made no mistake the second time around — beating Stars goalie Emma Johnson with a wide deke — and was the lone shooter to connect after three misses by her teammates and four stops by Chiefs netminder Sarah Murray.
“I was a little nervous and I’ve done that move a million times before,” said the Red Deer defenceman and the daughter of Chiefs head coach Tom Bast. “The first time I went I didn’t get it and the second time I knew exactly what to do. I just blurred everyone out and went down the ice and got the job done.”
And now the Chiefs are into the national championship final, the first host team to advance to the gold-medal game in the history of the event.
“It’s incredible. It’s unimaginable,” said Bast. “We’re so proud of each other, doing it together is just the best part of it and being able to persevere through everything is just incredible.”
Sophie Shirley staked the Saskatchewan champs to an early lead with a power-play goal 8:18 into the contest. The tally held up until Chiefs forward Cassidy Hollman notched a man-advantage marker at 11:38 of the second period, one-timing a pass from Kirsten Baumgardt while parked in the low slot.
From there, it was back and forth, with Murray making a handful of game-saving stops among her 31 saves and Johnson — who blocked 26 shots through regulation time and the 10-minute overtime frame — coming up big on several occasions.
Murray foiled the Stars on two breakaways, including one by Brittany Heuchert in overtime.
“There are no words to describe how great she is,” said Mairead Bast.
The Chiefs coach took it one step further in his praise of the Red Deer netminder.
“We were extremely blessed to have this young lady in our net,” said Tom Bast. “All year she’s been like this, she loves this kind of pressure. Kudos to Sarah and our entire team.”
The Chiefs bench boss admitted there was a slight sense of frustration in that his team was a mere one-for-10 on the power play — as opposed to one-for-four by the Stars — and twice enjoyed a lengthy five-on-three advantage in the first period without finding the back of the net.
“But the girls have never experienced this type of pressure before, so to speak,” he said. “It’s a learning experience and the main thing is to just take it one shift at a time.
“We battled and once again we found a way to win. That’s the true testament of a championship hockey team. We’ll be rested and ready to go tomorrow.”
Bast knows the Lady Wolves will present a major challenge, considering the Ontario champs finished atop the round-round standings with a 5-1 record and dumped the Chiefs 7-2 Tuesday.
“They have three to four solid lines,” he said. “The key thing is getting pucks deep. We’re not the most skilled team but we have good structure and a good system with our penalty kill and power play. Once again, it’s going to come down to will.
“I just hope we can bring a championship to Red Deer, to Central Alberta and the province of Alberta.”
l The Stars will face the Central Plains Capitals of Manitoba in the bronze-medal game today at noon.
The Capitals fell 3-0 to Sudbury in Friday’s earlier semifinal. Carley Olivier, Kailey Lapense and Tayler Murphy scored for the Lady Wolves, while Danika Ranger stopped all 23 shots she faced.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com