A week after Valentine’s Day, the Lloydminster Steelers applied “tough love” Saturday en route to a 3-2 overtime victory over the visiting Rocky Mountain Raiders in the U18 AAA division of the Alberta Female Hockey League.
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Down 2-0 after the second period, the Steelers heard some strong words from their leadership group during the intermission of an afternoon tilt at the Hub.
“There was a little bit of tough love in the (dressing) room, from the leadership in there,” said Lloyd captain Skylar Heinrichs, who scored the winning goal just 21 seconds into overtime on a precise pass from Esme Loney, an assistant captain.
“I think whatever we said worked. It was a little aggressive, but I feel that sometimes you must hear that we need to be better, because we weren’t playing to our potential. Just keeping everyone accountable and telling them, ‘There’s more in us. If we want to win, we’ve got to find that.’
“Then, Dan (coach Auchenberg) came in and told us we have to believe, and we all came together as one.”
A day later, Rocky Mountain would regroup to post a come-from-behind victory of its own, as the last-place Raiders rallied from a 2-1 second-period deficit to defeat the Steelers 3-2 on Sunday in a Hub rematch.
ALL EIGHT TEAMS IN PLAYOFFS
Going into the final weekend of the regular season, the Steelers (7-17-2) and the Sherwood Park Reign (7-18-2) were tied for sixth place, each with 20 points, six more than Rocky Mountain (4-20-4).
Lloydminster has played one less game than Sherwood Park, which hosts the Steelers this Saturday afternoon. Lloyd finishes its regular season at home Sunday in an 11:15 a.m. Hub date with the first-place St. Albert Slash (21-4-2).
All eight teams qualify for the playoffs, but it looks like the first-round matchups won’t be finalized until this last weekend of the regular season.
Regardless of their initial opponent, the Steelers just hope they can enter the playoffs with better health than they’ve experienced during a recent bout of sickness.
“We are really getting it right now,” said Heinrichs, a Mount Royal University commit. “There’s maybe three people that haven’t been sick. We haven’t really had a full team at practice for a couple of weeks now.
“Sawyer Mackay just got knocked out (of the lineup). I missed a game last weekend. I had a viral lung infection. Sawyer has pneumonia. We’ve got something going throughout the team right now, and a lot of people are battling through it, but it’s hard to rest in moments like this when we really need the whole team to play. But I think we’re getting better, hopefully.”
Likewise, the youthful Steelers are confident they can be a better team on the ice than their record or recent losing streak might indicate.
“There’s been a lot of things said about our team this year — sometimes not always positive — but just after that win (last Saturday), we’ve got to keep proving to everybody that we can play,” said Heinrichs, a senior forward from Lloydminster. “We need to start showing up every day and, by playoffs, we should be a way better team.”
LONEY ‘NEVER STOPS WORKING’
Heinrichs believes the Steelers are in good hands with the likes of running-mate Loney setting the tone.
“On the boards, Esme gets the puck and all I hear is, ‘Let’s go, let’s go,’ ” Heinrichs said in replaying the overtime goal. “She just slid the puck to me, and it was an easy tap-in for me. It was all Esme.
“She was yelling at me. She’s so funny. She’s the best character — it’s great. She was our unsung hero last year and she could be it again this year. She never stops working.”
Sadie Larson, a rookie forward from Irma, scored her first U18 goal with 2:31 left in the third period to force overtime Saturday.
Karsyn Woytiuk also tallied for Lloydminster. Loney assisted on two of the Steelers’ three goals.
Lloyd’s Kenzie Zidar and Rocky Mountain’s Teagan Shaddock made 27 and 33 saves, respectively.
Sophia El Hage, on the power play, and Westyn Webb tallied for the Raiders.
Coach Auchenberg saw his Steelers overcome sickness and show determination in fighting back for the OT victory.
“The resilience came forth in the third period here,” he said. “We told them after the second period, ‘You’ve got to start believing. You’ve got to start having fun. You can’t put so much pressure on yourselves. Just relax and enjoy the game. The game is supposed to be fun.’
“We played with urgency in the third, and that’s how we’ve got to play. Give the girls credit, they came back, even with how sick they are. They dug down and played most of the third period in
(the Raiders’) zone.”
Rocky Mountain showed similar traits Sunday in fighting back for its one-goal win.
Webb netted the winner with 6:45 remaining. The Raiders’ Paige Meyer and the Steelers’ Peyton Oborowsky each counted two goals. Meyer’s tying marker came on a power play midway through the third period.
Zidar and her Rocky Mountain counterpart, Brea Kuprash, each blocked 28 shots.
WALKER SHOWS MORE COURAGE
The Steelers’ inspirational leader, Peyton Walker, was in the rink last weekend as she returned to Lloydminster from her latest cancer treatments in Edmonton.
“Living with her, she’s always just got the best smile on her face,” said Heinrichs, whose family has billeted Walker the past couple of seasons. “It’s really hard to think about what she’s going through, but she’s just got the best attitude. Sometimes it’s hard to believe. We just root for her and think about her all the time.
“She just finished some chemo, but every chance she gets, she comes here. She’s been with me for two weeks now. She’ll go to Edmonton and then come all the way back to Lloyd. I think she just loves to be with the team and the distraction it provides.”
Walker, a Wainwright native, helped the Steelers honour their billet families last Saturday.
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