Skylar Heinrichs has an Esso Cup memento that’s so unique it wasn’t up for grabs at the souvenir stand during the weeklong Canadian U18 AAA girls’ hockey championship in Lloydminster.
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The 17-year-old hometown forward is treasuring the puck from her overtime goal in Lloyd’s 4-3 victory over the Saskatoon Stars in round-robin action last Wednesday at the Centennial Civic Centre.
It was a must-win game for the Steelers, who rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the eventual silver-medallists and remain in contention for a semifinal berth that they later clinched.
Heinrichs powered her way down the right side and fired the puck past Stars goaltender Tarynn Sutter with 2:30 left in the five-minute overtime period. The Civic Centre crowd of almost 1,000 people went wild.
“I could hear the crowd, but I didn’t really see them,” said Heinrichs, whose teammates mobbed her amid the goal celebration. “I went down and did my celly, and then all my teammates came to me.”
As the final chapter is written on the storied Civic Centre, the Heinrichs OT goal will go down as one to remember.
“That one is definitely in my top three (career goals),” she said with a wide smile. “That’s a pretty exciting one. I’ll never forget that.
“I knew we didn’t have a lot of time left. I shot low blocker on the left side. I just saw that corner and I picked it. Luckily for me, it went in.
“I really wanted this one to be over. I knew the crowd would love it.”
Indeed, the fans loved it. For back-to-back nights, they watched the Steelers keep themselves in contention and punch their ticket to the playoff round.
“We tend to save it to the end,” Heinrichs said of the Steelers taking the comeback route multiple times. “Make it hard on ourselves, (but) make the game interesting.”
She made it a most memorable night for Lloyd fans, who’ll see Heinrichs with the Steelers again next season before she begins her university career at Mount Royal in Calgary in the fall of 2026.
She was thankful to score a season-saving goal, especially after watching from the penalty box when Saskatoon scored its second of two power-play goals in the first period.
“I took a really bad penalty,” Heinrichs said of the body-checking infraction. “I’m really glad I got that one back.”
Raevyn Neahr retrieved the keepsake puck and gave it to Heinrichs in the dressing room. Neahr, with a power-play goal, also figured in the offence.
Steelers blue-liner Jamie Hensch, with a two-point game, forced overtime when she scored on a well-placed shot with 2:57 left in regulation time, converting a slick pass from Payton Farkash.
Sadee Reinders also scored for Lloyd and Alivia Foster added two assists. Steelers goalie Harlee Houle stopped 31 shots, while Sutter blocked 25 for Saskatoon.
Heinrichs continued her heroics the next night as her two-goal performance helped lift Lloyd to a 5-3 victory over Quebec’s Etoiles de Laurentides-Lanaudiere in the battle for the last semifinal berth.
REKIMOWICH SCORES SHORTHANDED
Another hometown Steeler, captain Ryann Rekimowich, netted the winning goal while Lloyd was shorthanded in the final minute of the second period, giving the Steelers a 4-2 lead. The Quebec champions narrowed the gap in the third, but Heinrichs restored Lloyd’s two-goal cushion in the final minute of regulation. Her earlier goal was a power-play marker.
Neahr, with two points, and Esme Loney scored the other goals for the Steelers. Taryn Leighton collected two assists. Houle made 27 saves against Laurentides-Lanaudiere, which tallied twice on power plays to go up 2-1 early in the second period.
The Steelers took momentum into the second intermission after Rekimowich’s goal deflated a Quebec power play that had been buzzing with two prime scoring chances for Maika Gauthier. Rekimowich stemmed the tide, intercepted a pass and broke loose to score with a deceptive low shot on goaltender Amelie Lebreux.
“I think she was sliding with me, so I decided to shoot far side and see where it goes,” said Rekimowich, who turns 18 in late May. “I was happy to see it go in.”
After intercepting a Quebec pass near Lloyd’s zone, Rekimowich staved off a defender and darted toward the net.
“It was a one-on-one battle,” she said. “I felt I had more momentum, and I could beat her in the middle. So, right about their blue-line, I cut toward the middle and just shot it on net.”
Rekimowich’s goal generated more jubilation from the packed crowd, especially from her legion of supporters, including siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Some of them gathered for a family photo afterward.
In the stands, one of her brothers sported a Rekimowich jersey from Ryann’s U15 days. “My two older brothers played hockey and that’s how I got in the sport,” she said.
Rekimowich and teammate Ashlyn Hinton are both committed to the Lakeland College Rustlers women’s hockey program, so their local fans can continue to see them play close to home. Hinton is from Mannville, while Rekimowich is one of four Steelers from Lloydminster, along with Foster, Heinrichs and Loney.
The Steelers from near and far relished the strong support from the greater Lloyd community.
“It’s amazing having this many fans come out,” Rekimowich said. “Knowing that your community is behind you, it really gives you that extra push. We appreciate all the fans.”
The Steelers finished the round-robin with one regulation win, two overtime victories and two losses. They gained fourth place with seven points, half as many as the first-place Edmonton Junior Oilers, whose unbeaten record in preliminary play included a 2-1 victory over Lloydminster early in the six-team tournament.
That point differential wasn’t as apparent Friday night when Edmonton, the eventual gold-medallist, needed overtime to defeat Lloyd 1-0 in their semifinal.
The Junior Oilers went on to defeat Saskatoon 7-3 in the nationally televised gold-medal game.
In their semifinal, the Western region champion Stars edged scored a 3-2 victory over the Ontario representatives, the North York Storm, who topped Lloyd 4-1 in Saturday’s bronze-medal game. Saskatoon and North York each had eight points after round-robin play.
Finishing below Lloyd and out of the playoff round were the Quebec and Atlantic regional champions, each with four points. In the franchise’s first Esso Cup appearance, the Eastern Stars of Prince Edward Island represented Atlantic Canada.
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