No Turkey Leg Problems For U15 A Mavericks In Shutout Win

They may have had a short bench due to Christmas vacations but the Moose Jaw Carpet One U15 A Mavericks still managed a 3 - 0 shutout versus the visiting Lumsden/Bethune Lynx Purple on Friday evening.

Played in front of a decent sized crowd the Mavericks utilized a dump and chase style of play to outmuscle the Lynx for three goals.

With four players away on holidays there were some necessary adjustments on the ice but overeating at Christmas wasn’t a problem for the Mavericks. Other than fatigue late in the third period the team skated well.

There was no scoring in the First Period.

The Mavericks opened the scoring at 19:41 of the Second Period.

The goal was scored by Alyssa Wood and assisted by Rose Alexander.

The Mavericks took a two goal lead with a powerplay goal batted in a pile up by Madeline Hopkinson at 4:46. The assist went to Wood.

The Third Period saw a puck shot from about 12 feet out at 19:02 find the twine.

The goal was scored by Wood and assisted by Hopkinson and London Weisgerber.

Alyssa Wood ended the evening with three points - two goals and an assist.

Mavericks head coach Victoria Seiferling was pleased with the Mavs effort.

“We haven’t skated in two weeks. And we had a pretty short bench so I think we did well,” Seiferling said.

“We have a lot of kids on holidays. You know kids take holidays around Christmas so yeah we’re missing a few.”

The few turned out to be four players unavailable including a defence player.

The hole in the defence was filled by a forward who did a good job to plug the hole she said.

“We only had three D (defence) tonight so we had to move a forward back and she did great there.”

Goaltending came up big for the Mavericks.

“Blair was great. I told her before the game expect to see a lot of shots and be ready. And she was,” Seiferling said.

Asked if she thought the shutout came as a bit of a surprise Seiferling said she wasn’t having confidence in her goalie.

“I mean Blair is capable of a shutout on any night. That’s a good team over there but Blair played really well.”

The lLynx almost broke the shutout with 2:30 left in the game.

The Mavericks coughed up the puck giving the Lynx a very good scoring opportunity on Bennett. Bennett stonewalled the opposition in by far her best save of the game.

“That comes from fatigue I think. Our D was exhausted they played a lot in that game. And when you’re that fatigued you often cough up the puck.”

Asked if the warmer weather had an effect on the quality of the ice making for a slower game and also more fatigue for players she said it actually was likely a Zamboni problem.

“They’re Zamboni broke down. So the Zamboni has no hot water right now. So I’m sure the ice is feeling it from that,” she said.

Due to it being the holiday season it’s not easy to get parts and probably once everybody gets back from vacation on Monday the parts will become available.

The Mavericks at the present time sitting at second in their division and with the second half coming up, they’re hoping at the end of it all to be ending up in first place.

Ask what it’s gonna be the biggest hurdle for the team coming into the second half and reaching your goal of finishing first. She said it would be one word. - Effort.

“Effort for the whole game effort for a full 60 minutes.

We always start a game really well and we can not always finish the game really well. So we have to play a whole 60 minutes as a team.”

The Mavericks U15 A next home game is Sunday at 3 pm when they face the Wood River Ice Cats at the Kinsmen Arena.

The Scoresheet