Bears players mob Ella Clarke (#3) after she scores her first career goal at the U18AAA level at the Esso Cup on April 27, 2023. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW staff)

By Logan Lehmann

Esso Cup

Bears wrap up Esso Cup run with 6-1 loss to Stoney Creek

Apr 27, 2023 | 11:58 PM

PRINCE ALBERT, SK – The 2022-23 season has come to an end for the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

They wrapped up their Esso Cup tournament on Thursday after a 6-1 loss to Ontario’s Stoney Creek Sabres at the Art Hauser Centre.

Bears head coach Steve Young shared his thought on the girls’ final outing of the season.

“We knew they were a strong hockey club,” he said. “They play a bit of a different than a lot of the teams at this tournament. They make you turn over pucks, they play a patient game and then they attack so – we knew that. I thought we did some good things at times but give them credit, they did what they had to do tonight to win.”

Bears forward Ella Clarke got the monkey off her back in the contest, netting her first career goal at the AAA level.

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“It was super excited,” she said. “I didn’t think it would happen and it did.”

“I kinda shocked myself,” she continued. “I was really excited, the team was excited. It was just good.”

Along with Clarke, Claudia Lammers and Julia Cey also found the scoresheet as each collected assists on the play.

Holly Vannetten and Jaela Carter led the way for the Sabres with four points each. Vannetten had a pair of goals and assists while Carter had a goal and a trio of assists.

Caileigh Tiller had a three-point night tallying a goal and two helpers alongside Madison Burr who found the scoresheet with two assists of her own. Aviah Bramer and Peyton Anzivino also scored while Maren Capannelli, Nicole Rowan, and Ashlyn Carter each registered assists.

Bears netminder Brooke Archer turned aside 30 shots while her counterpart, Mya Castrillo, stopped 19.

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

Stoney Creek found themselves up by two following the opening twenty. Tiller got the Sabres on the board midway through before Carter added another with less than ten seconds to go to double the lead heading into the intermission.

The Sabres managed to hold the Bears off the scoreboard in the second while adding to their own lead. Vannetten tripled the lead on the powerplay which Stoney Creek carried into the final frame.

Prince Albert put the pressure on in the final frame and their hard work paid off. Less than a minute in, Ferster connected with Clarke for her first of the tournament, and AAA career, to cut into the lead.

But the Sabres had other plans and quickly got that goal back with Bramer’s shot squeaking through the five hole to put Ontario back up by three.

Stoney Creek added two more in the dying minutes of the contest to wrap up the round robin with a 6-1 win.

The Esso Cup is now onto the semi final round beginning Friday at 3:30 p.m.

—

logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann