Panthers prowl to a third straight Alberta banner
By Terry Farrell, Herald-Tribune staff
Updated 4 months ago
Grande Prairie hockey has a dynasty in its midst.
The Grande Prairie Panthers won the Senior Female A Provincial Hockey Championships in Edmonton over the weekend, to successfully defend their title... again.
It's a three-peat.
The Panthers were nearly perfect in Edmonton. They opened with a 2-2 tie against the Edmonton Renegades on Thursday, then ran the table, winning their final two round- robin games, and both playoff contests.
"It was a pretty good weekend – the girls played really well," said coach Darren Craipley.
The Panthers beat the Calgary Unknowns 6-0 on Friday, then completed the round robin with a 7-2 victory over the Westlock Bandits on Saturday night.
Their 2-0-1 record was identical to that of the Renegades, but based on a superior goals differential, the Edmonton team took top spot in the pool.
No worries.
The Panthers played the Calgary Rivulettes – the top team in the other pool – in a crossover semifinal match and won 3-1, setting up a rematch against the Renegades for the championship banner.
The Renegades earned their spot in the championship match with a 5-0 victory over the Bon Accord Raiders.
The Panthers made the proper adjustments from the round-robin and beat the Renegades 4-0 in the final.
"I have three No. 1 lines on my team, so that makes it pretty simple for me," said Craipley. "I just got them to tighten up defensively and let them take care of the rest."
The Panthers did have a bit of an ace in the hole for the playoffs. Former national U-22 team member Steph Jones, who coaches the Quadra Chemicals Midget AAA female Storm, could not make it to the round-robin games, but joined the team for the playoff round.
She had two goals in the championship game.
Maryanne Ottahal and Kayla Scobey scored the other Grande Prairie markers in the gold-medal match and Cathy Craipley picked up the shutout, her second of the tournament. She was the goalie of record in every game for the Panthers.
"We picked up Daniella Alfonso from Hythe as back-up, but Cathy played all the games," he said. "She's a really good goalie and she played really well."
Good thing. It could have caused some off-ice strife had Darren felt the need to pull Cathy at any point. They are married.
"Yeah, boy, if there comes a day where she's off, that will be a little rough," he said laughing.
The Panthers prepared for provincials with play in the Peace Country Female Hockey League, A senior league similar to the men's North Peace Hockey League, in that there are teams of different calibres playing against each other throughout the season, in preparation for their respective provincial runs.
The Panthers are the only 'A' squad in the league, but still had to get through the Raiders, who play out of the Northern Alberta Female Hockey Association, to qualify for provincials. The Panthers won that two-game, total-goal series, winning 5-2 in Bon Accord, then 3-2 in Grande Prairie.
The Raiders still qualified for the provincials by beating an Edmonton team for a back-door berth.
Bon Accord was the only team in the tournament that the Panthers has seen prior to the weekend. Craipley said not knowing the opposition did not call for much adjustment in his preparation of the team for its games.
"Well, I know we have a great team – we have won the 'Albertas' two years in a row, so as long as we are playing our best, I believe we can handle anybody," he said. "That's how I approached it."
Next up for the Panthers is a trip to Manitoba for the longest-running female hockey tournament in existence – the Western Shield – to battle for the Western Canadian championship.
The Panthers won the bronze medal at the tournament last year and are looking to improve on that.
"We are definitely going for gold this year," Craipley said.
The 2011 Western Shield runs April 8-10, at the Dakota Community Centre in Winnipeg where the Panthers were successful in winning the gold medal.
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