Sasha Malenfant nearly scores on a breakaway in the third period of the Bears third game of the Esso Cup. (Derek Craddock/paNOW STaff)

By Derek Craddock

ESSO CUP ACTION

Bears fall just short in wild game against Étoiles

Apr 25, 2023 | 10:23 PM

The Prince Albert Northern Bears came close but the stars did not align for them as they lost their third game of the Esso Cup against the Étoiles de Laurentides-Lanaudière.

In what turned out to be a battle of the goaltenders, the teams combined for 77 shots in a 2-1 victory for the Étoiles.

The Northern Bears came close to tying it late in the third period, but goalie Beatrice Plouffe stood her ground stopping a breakaway chance from Sasha Malenfant.

The game started in the Quebec team’s favour when Andreanne St-Pierre scored on a breakaway less than five minutes into the first period.

A few minutes later, Danika Giroux made it 2-0 for the Étoiles with Maika Gauthier and Jade Cusson assisting.

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Roughly two minutes later, the Bears finally got on the board as Kassie Ferster ripped a shot into the top corner to make it 2-1.

Kassie Ferster celebrates with her teammates (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

Neither team scored in the second period but the Bears did find themselves in penalty trouble throughout the frame having to kill off five penalties. That continued into the third period, where the Étoiles were on the power play four times.

Despite multiple shots and a few power plays of their own, the Bears could not find an answer for the opposing goalie as the final score would end up being 2-1.

Jacquelyne Chief was named Player of the Game for the Bears while St. Pierre took the top honours for the Étoiles.

After the game, Bears coach Steve Young talked about the 11 penalties called against them in the game and how they were able to kill them off.

“It’s that time of the year when you can’t let it happen,” he said. “I think anytime in any sport where there’s those situations you got to control it. We did the best we could to control it, I’m not saying we’re happy with it, but at the same time it is what it is and we have to fight through it.”

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

Goalie Brook Archer had 36 total saves in the game and talks about what helped her to stand tall after she was pulled in the team’s last game against Fraser Valley.

“It was pretty tough getting pulled last night, I was pretty hard on myself, but today going into it, I kinda had the mentality of I need to be mad, I need to take my anger and put it on the ice and bounce back,” she said, adding while the fans were not impressed with some calls in the game, they couldn’t let that distract them.

“We just got to get the momentum back after it’s all done and just keep pushing. We can’t decide what the refs call and what the refs don’t call so we just kinda have to keep pushing no matter what.”

The Bears stand 0-3 so far in the Esso Cup and take on the Regina Rebels in their next game, a team they know very well.

“We know how they play; we know they are a great offensive team,” said Archer. “We got to be on our game tomorrow.”

In other Esso Cup action on Tuesday, Stoney Creek beat the Northern Selects 4-1 and the Fraser Valley Rush beat Regina 6-5.

The game between the Northern Bears and the Regina Rebels goes Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @princealbertnow