The Red Deer Sutter Fund Chiefs didn’t have that much to play for during their final weekend of the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League regular season as they went into their final three games with first place in the South Division all wrapped up.
But that didn’t stop them from turning in a solid effort as they earned four of a possible six points.
They capped off the weekend at home Sunday with a 2-0 victory over the Calgary Chaos, who they tied 2-2 on the road Friday. On Saturday the Chiefs tied the Calgary Flyers 1-1 at the Kin City Arena B.
“The girls did have anything to play for, but they weren’t bad,” said Chiefs head coach Mickey Girard. “I think if the games would have meant a little more they would have upped the ante.”
The Chiefs finished the season with a 23-3-6 record and 12 points ahead of second-place Medicine Hat.
“Finishing with only three losses is impressive,” said Girard, whose squad gets a bye next weekend before meeting a quarter-final winner in a best-of-three south semifinal, Feb. 11-13.
“We’ll face one of the two teams we played this weekend,” added Girard. “Then the league shuts down for two weekends for the Canada Winter Games, then it’s a best-of-five south final.”
The fact the semifinal is a best-of-three series isn’t something that suits Girard.
“In the past it was a best-of-five, but because of the Winter Games they cut it down. A best-of-three can be tough as you don’t have any room to make a mistake. You lose that first game and you’re behind the eight ball. In a five-game series you can afford one slip up.”
The Chiefs have two players on the Alberta team heading to the Winter Games in Halifax — defencemen Hannah Mousek and Taryn Baumgardt.
“St. Albert and ourselves are the only teams in the league who have two players going,” said Girard, who says having next weekend off is good for the team.
“We have a couple of the girls just coming back from injuries and Emma Malsbury will also start skating this week as she recovers from a concussion. So the bye week will be good in that we should have everyone back and healthy by the time the playoffs start.”
On Sunday, the Chiefs got a flawless goaltending performance from Camille Trautman and Megan Kirkland, who stopped 13 and seven shots respectively, and got goals from Janelle Froehler and Ashley Graf in the win over the visiting Chaos. The Chiefs had 40 shots on goal. Cassidy Anderson supplied the goal and Trautman made 18 saves against the Flyers. The Chiefs fired 39 shots at Flyers goaltender Megan Parkyn.
On Friday, Emily Lougheed and Jade Petrie scored once each and Kirkland finished with 24 saves while her mates had 28 shots on goal.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com