Bears earn weekend split in Regina
It was a successful weekend in Regina for the Prince Albert Northern Bears, picking up four of a possible six points.
Prince Albert fell 3-2 in overtime on Saturday before taking home a 2-0 win on Sunday afternoon.
Northern Bears head coach says he was pleased with the progress that Prince Albert made from their previous weekend against Battlefords.
“We needed to take a step forward. The first game was an overtime loss, but we did come from behind to tie it, so some positives there. Then the next day we’re starting to play the way we believe we can play. Nikita (Krayetski) got the shutout. The girls worked hard and to come home with a victory in that game makes it easier for us to move forward this week and next week before we play our final two games before Christmas.”
Berlin Lolacher would open the scoring on Saturday for Regina with an unassisted shorthanded goal with 5:19 left to go in the opening frame.
Prince Albert would respond with 14:22 to go in the second period as Aliya Clarke would tie the game with her second goal of the season. Jersie Andersen posted the lone assist.
Emma Sveinbjornson would give Regina the lead on the power play less than three minutes into the final frame. Anna Benoit and Ella Newton provided the helpers.
Jersie Andersen’s third goal of the season would pull the Bears even with just 2:38 to go in regulation. Caprice Harder assisted on the play.
Ella Newton would be the overtime hero for Regina scoring the game winner just 1:20 into the first overtime frame. Kendal Leader had the assist.
Annika Neufeldt made 33 saves for Prince Albert while Morgan Robertson stopped 24 of 26 shots faced for the Rebels.
Sunday’s game would be tightly contested with neither team scoring a goal through forty minutes.
Prince Albert would break through on the scoreboard first thanks to Londyn Hoffman’s second goal of the season with 16:26 to go in regulation. Olivia Trann and Caprice Harder assisted on the play.
Trann would join in on the scoresheet with just 3:39 left to go to double the Prince Albert lead. Captain Elizabeth Udell had the lone assist on the play.
Nikita Krayetski earned the shutout win for the Bears between the pipes, stopping all 32 Rebel shots that she faced. It was her first career shutout at the U18 AAA level.
Young says he was glad to see Krayetski pull out the win after playing well for the Bears throughout the season.
“I felt it was important for her, I think she’s been in a lot of good close games this year, but hasn’t been able to manage the win. For her to manage the win plus get a shutout, I think is very rewarding for her and shows the work that she and Annika (Neufeldt) both continue to put in for this hockey club.”
The Bears were riding a four game losing streak entering the weekend. Young says he saw a lot of positives throughout the weekend.
“I think the biggest thing is we were more involved as a hockey club. I thought when Regina came here, they worked us in a lot of areas and going into Regina, we knew we had to be prepared for that and be more involved. I think with us being more involved in the play and doing the little things, we were more effective for sure.”
The Bears will have a weekend off before returning home to face Regina on Dec. 21 and 22. Prince Albert will also be hosting alumni weekend.
Young says the extra practice time will allow the Bears to work on the finer details of their game.
“For your week of practice, you can do different types of things and not worry about setting the pace or the pace of the high tempo practices and those types of things. You can break it down and do smaller things. Then the next week when they come back, we would raise the tempo. It’d be more of a learning week this week and go over things slowly and then next week we would bring it up to the tempo that we want to play going into the weekend.”
Article written By Nathan Reiter on December 11, 2024