Monday, February 21, 2011 /
By Laurence Heinen /
Having accomplished one of their goals, the Edge Mountaineers will now switch their focus to preparing for the Junior Women’s Hockey League playoffs.
The Edge girls prep squad went 2-2-1 on the final weekend of the JWHL schedule on Feb. 11 to 13 in Winnipeg to finish with an overall record of 18-5-4, good enough for first place in the West Division and second overall in the league.
“We’re really pleased with our season,” stated head coach Mario Amantea. “Our goal was to be first in the west and we achieved that. We ended up winning the division by 10 points which was good.”
Led by a goal and two assists from Stefanie Pohlod, the Mountaineers started the final JWHL weekend with a 5-1 win over the Colorado Select on the morning of Feb. 11. Bryanne Panchuk and Izzy Fayerman both chipped in with a goal and an assist, while goalie Courtney Vinet stopped 26 shots to pick up the win.
Later that same day, the Edge girls edged the Boston Shamrocks, 4-3. Fayerman, Erika Sowchuk and Brooke Fouracres finished with a goal and an assist each.
The next day of action didn’t go as well for the Edge squad which dropped a 3-0 decision to the National Sports Academy from Lake Placid, NY, before losing 7-2 to the National American Hockey Academy, from Stowe, VT, the top team in the East Division with a 25-1-1 record.
“We didn’t finish off as well as we would have hoped, but overall we’re pretty pleased,” said Amantea, whose squad tied the Washington Pride 3-3 on Feb. 13 to wrap up regular-season action.
Chelsey Verbeek led the way against the Pride with a goal and two assists, while Fayerman and Madison Murray added singles.
In 27 JWHL games, Sowchuk led the Mountaineers with 17 goals and 11 assists, while Panchuk finished two points behind her with eight goals and 18 helpers. Amy Helfrich (14g, 7a) and Stefanie Pohlod (9g, 11a) also cracked the 20-point plateau during the season.
Vinet went 9-4-3 in between the pipes for the Edge, while rookie netminder Emma Pincott also fared well with a 9-1-1 record.
Vinet, Sowchuk, Panchuk, Helfrich, Taylor Sakundiak, Kelly Murray, Vaila Higson and Brittney Fouracres all cracked the lineup of the Team Alberta under-18 female hockey team which will take part in the Canada Winter Games from Feb. 20 to 26 in Halifax.
“When they come back, we’ll try to arrange a couple exhibition games,” Amantea said.
The second-ranked Edge squad now has until March 11 to prepare for their first playoff game against the No. 9 seed Pacific Steelers squad. All 10 JWHL teams will take part in the final playoff weekend at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI, from March 11-13.
While the Mountaineers have beaten the Steelers all three times they’ve played this season, Amantea cautioned that his players will have to be ready for an intense battle from the drop of the puck.
“In playoffs, it’s a one-game series, so you can run into a hot goaltender, you can have some bad luck, you can end up with penalties that may be costly,” he said. “The message going in is going to be regardless of who we play, we have to play at an extremely high level and we have to approach it as if it’s a final game.
“We’ve had success against (the Steelers) and we should go in with a lot of confidence. That certainly doesn’t mean we can go three-quarter speed and expect to win, because they have improved over the course of the year.”
Amantea’s ultimate goal is to help his team advance to the JWHL final for a rematch against the powerful NAHA squad, who the Edge tied 1-1 during league action on Dec. 5 and beat 1-0 on Jan. 29 during the JWHL Challenge Cup in Washington, DC.
“We know that they’re beatable going into playoffs in a one-game series,” said Amantea. “We have confidence going in that we can do it.”
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