By Jeff D'Andrea

Bears win goaltending duel on Hounds to take 1-0 semis series lead

Mar 10, 2018 | 3:25 PM

The Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League semifinals series between the Prince Albert Northern Bears and the Notre Dame Hounds started with a goaltending duel of the highest order at the Art Hauser Centre Saturday.

The Bears won the game 1-0, and a score that low shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering this series features the two best goalies in the SFMAAAHL in Bears’ Ryan Fontaine and Hounds keeper Kaitlyn Ross.

Bears goaltender Ryan Fontaine got the better of the matchup as she made 26 stops on Saturday for the shutout. Ross was the busier goaltender, making 35 saves on 36 shots. 

During the regular season, Fontaine led the league in wins (13), goals against average (1.70), tied for lead with three shutouts and second in save percentage (.925). Ross had a better save percentage at .936 and was named the SFMAAAHL Top Goalie over Fontaine.

“She’s a really good goalie and it’s hard to play against her because you know she’ll bring her A-game every single day,” Fontaine said. “I just tried to stick to what I know and prepared the same as I would any other game and tried not to think about her too much.”

Riderville

Riders Have Options Heading into Tuesday CFL Draft

3h ago

Weekend hockey

PAGC set to host largest Senator's Cup tournament to date

3h ago

VAISAKHI MELA

Hundreds flocking to P.A. for Vaisakhi Mela celebration

4h ago

The only shot that beat either ‘tender came off the stick of Bears defender Jordan Ashe, 50 minutes into the game. After keeping the puck in at the blueline, Ashe found an avenue and snuck it through a large crowd. 

“I just picked out a corner, because I knew the goalie was down already because we were pounding her with shots already,” Ashe said. “So I picked a corner and shot.”

What Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby was happy about that Ross wasn’t just screened on the shot, but was screened for a majority of the play leading up to the point shot.

“For probably 10 or 15 seconds before, there was traffic on-going, it wasn’t just that particular shot,” Willoughby said. “Their goalie was fighting to see the puck for quite a few passes, so that is exactly what we need to implement into our game. Hopefully we can score more 5-on-5 goals like that.”

Both teams will drive down to Wilcox for Game 2 at 4:30 p.m., with the Bears hoping they can take a 2-0 stranglehold on the series.  

“I think we just have to do exactly what we did today, shift-by-shift, working hard,” Fontaine said.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW