Bears forward Paris Oleksyn finds some open space against the Stars on Sunday at the Art Hauser Centre. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Bears Hockey

Bears to face Stars in the playoffs, Oleksyn ends reg. season on four-game heater

Mar 8, 2020 | 5:22 PM

The goal that was scored with 53.7 seconds remaining in Sunday’s game changed the Prince Albert Northern Bears’ playoff opponents for the opening Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League playoff round.

The Bears were holding onto a 1-0 lead over the Saskatoon Stars as time ticked down. If they held the lead and won in regulation, they would move up to third place and play the Battlefords Sharks to start the postseason. But instead, Bridget Rezanoff scored to tie it up for the Stars. It got to the point where the Bears pulled their goalie despite a 1-1 score in order to try and get the victory. Neither team scored, and once the third period expired, the Bears learned they would be stuck in fourth place no matter what happened next.

But the Bears are okay with that. Not only did captain Brooklyn Anderson score in overtime (after getting tangled up with a Star defender and tossing her stick aside) to give the Bears a 2-1 victory and the team’s fourth consecutive win, that also sets up a seemingly favourable playoff series against the Stars. The Bears finished the season series by winning all five games they played against the Stars, with three regulation wins and two in overtime.

“Confidence level is very high right now. We love playing against the Stars because they love to compete and they want to score, and that makes us want to score even more and compete higher than them,” Bears forward Paris Oleksyn said.

But despite the good head-to-head record against the Stars, Bears head coach Jeff Willoughby said he wants to see a lot of urgency from his club to start the playoffs.

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“We just finished telling the girls, you don’t take your record into playoffs. You start over, everyone’s starting over,” Willoughby said. “We have to be the better team. We can be, we have to be the better team.”

The Bears ended their regular season with four straight wins. It isn’t a coincidence that Oleksyn scored at least a goal in all four wins—five in total in that span. She had the lone goal in regulation for the Bears before Anderson overtime winner.

“Definitely the chemistry we’re building as a team, and the energy we have on the bench and on the ice really helps us come up stronger,” Oleksyn said. “I think playing with my linemates Jasper [Desmarais] and Lauren [Willoughby] have helped me with the goals.”

Oleskyn finished the regular season as the only Bears to reach double digits in goals, scoring 15 and tied for sixth in the SFMAAAHL scoring race.

“Every team has maybe one or two players that they look at for offence and she’s no different for us. When she scores, we have a better chance to win,” Willoughby said. “We keep a close watch on the other team’s [top] players and try to match up against them defensively, and I think other teams are doing that to her, too. She’s playing through lots of checks, so you have to appreciate that. If she can score a goal, she’s doing a lot of things right.”

The Bears and Stars’ opening playoff series schedule hasn’t be officially released yet, but it is expected to start on Saturday, 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW