MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM -- Moose Jaw’s Brooklyn Nimegeers and Ashley Breitkreuz are national champions.
The pair of Moose Jaw Minor Hockey products capped a season filled with success with a gold medal at the Esso Cup U18 AAA female national hockey championship on Saturday night in Vernon, B.C.
The Rebels battled to a 2-1 victory Ontario’s North York Storm in the title game, claiming the first Canadian title in team history.
The Saskachewan Female AAA Hockey League champions found themselves in a scoreless battle through the first period against the Storm, with North York outshooting Regina 16-10 in the opening frame but the teams hitting the dressing room scoreless.
It was a far different story in the second period, as Regina turned up the pressure and were rewarded for their efforts.
Pilot Butte product Berlin Lolacher opened scoring with 12:56 gone in the frame, going hard to the net off her wing to put home the rebound off a shot from the slot by Weyburn’s Addison Greve.
Just over three minutes later, Prince Albert’s Stryker Zablocki made it a 2-0 game, outracing a North York defender for the puck, going in on a short breakaway and beating Storm goaltender Jamie Sanford with a shot low blocker side.
All told, the Rebels put together as dominant period of hockey as they have in the tournament, outshooting North York 22-6 in the frame.
There things stood until the 13:37 mark of the third period when the Storm would take advantage of their sixth power play of the game to get on the board. Lilly Paisley did the honours, jumping on a rebound at the side of the Regina net and banging a shot home.
That would mark the end of the offence on the night, and the celebration was on after the final buzzer.
Hannah Tresek stopped 26 shots to earn the victory in net for the Rebels, Regina had 49 shots on Sanford.
You can check out all the highlights from the gold medal game right here.
Zablocki was named the tournament MVP after putting up eight goals and 11 points in seven games, while Berlin Lolacher took top forward honours with 10 goals and 11 points in the same span.
Nimegeers received an honour of her own, being labled the ‘backbone of Regina’s team’’ while coming in third overall on the The Hockey News Top-10 Performers list.
Zablocki and Lolacher were one-two, with Greve coming in at eighth.
The Rebels won three of their five preliminary round games and lost two in overtime to finish tied for top spot in the Esso Cup standings after the round robin, setting up a contest against the host Thompson-Okanagan Lakers in the semifinal.
Breitkreuz, Lolacher, Zablocki, and Weyburn’s Rayna Hennie all scored in the 4-1 win, Tresek stopped 25 shots in goal.
Nimegeers -- Regina’s captain -- capped the tournament with five assists across the series, while Breitkreuz scored a pair of goals in seven games.
Regina posted a 26-3-1-0 record in the Sask Female AAA Hockey League regular season before going unbeaten in the playoffs to claim the league title. The Rebels then advanced to the Esso Cup with a two-game sweep of the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Regional.
Nimegeers is off to play for the NCAA Division I Princeton Tigers next season, while Breitkreuz will suit up with Trinity Western in USports Canada West.
