The Quesnel U14 ringette team earned a trip to the provincial championships with a convincing 6-3 win over Prince George.
Quesnel went into Tuesday night’s rubber match against Prince George, knowing they could win, they just needed to do it.
And they did.
The outcome of game three was sealed from the outset as the Quesnel U14 squad skated with speed from end to end and battled hard for the ring at every opportunity.
“It was hard work, at both ends,” coach of the Quesnel team, Vernon Belcher said.
“We moved the ring up the ice quicker.”
Quesnel opened the scoring in the first period, as Rachel Phillips skated into the low slot from the right boards and flicked a backhand shot that found a hole and the back of the net.
By the time the first period was over, Quesnel held a well deserved 3-0 lead.
Part of the difficulty for the Prince George squad was the game plan the Quesnel coaches had put in place following Sunday’s overtime loss.
In previous games, Prince George had relied on dumping the ring up ice to try and keep Quesnel on their heels and hopefully win the ensuing scrum for the ring.
But Belcher had a counterplan.
“We kept somebody back a little deeper to get to the ring with time to get it out of our zone,” Belcher explained.
Also having a good first period was Quesnel netminder Dakota Gatzke who made key saves early in the game to keep Prince George off the scoresheet.
The second period saw Prince George light up their side of the scoreboard just 46 seconds into the period, but Quesnel came right back just seconds later as Keana Lefebvre went in alone and roofed a shot glove-side to restore Quesnel’s three goal margin.
Quesnel extended their lead to 6-1 before the midpoint of the second period, thanks to a pair of goals from Casey Richert.
“I thought we were going to win,” Quesnel U14 captain Richert said of her thoughts when she took a peek at the scoreboard.
Prince George came back with a goal with eight minutes to play to pull within four goals.
With time running out, Prince George pulled their goalie for the extra attacker and scored with one second left on the clock.
Too little too late as the Quesnel U14 squad poured onto the ice celebrating the win and a berth in the provincial championships.
The best-of-three zone playoffs began last weekend with a game Saturday evening and another Sunday evening.
Quesnel took the first game 5-3 and hoped to take the zone championship Sunday night, but Prince George had a plan of their own.
In a see-saw battle, the teams traded goals throughout the game, with neither team getting an advantage until the final frame when Prince George went ahead 7-5 with just over 10 minutes to go.
Prince George, however, took two penalties in quick succession, handing Quesnel a five-on-three man advantage.
Quesnel took full advantage of the situation and scored two goals in less than 30 seconds to knot the score at 7-7.
But Prince George kept plugging away and managed to get the ring past Quesnel netminder Gatzke with a backhand shot that found the top of the net, stick-side over his shoulder.
Undaunted, Quesnel pushed back to tie the game up again, on a goal by Olivia Belcher who moved to her back hand and slid the ring 5-hole to tie the score up at 8-8 and to set up the sudden death overtime period.
In the overtime period, both teams had their chances, and both netminders made key saves, but Prince George did manage to find the back of the net midway through the overtime frame on a goal by Madison Landry.
That’s all it took to send the zone championship series to a third and deciding game.
“They played hard,” Belcher said of his team after the overtime loss.
“They battled right to the end.”
After the game, Belcher said he only had a few words for his players,
“Be prepared for another hard game and to play right to the end.”
Judging from Tuesday night’s game, they did.
The Quesnel U14 squad now prepare for the provincial championships in March, beginning with a tournament in Kelowna.