After rolling through the first round of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) women’s hockey playoffs, the pennant-winning and reigning-champion Lakeland Rustlers are poised for a tougher college assignment, beginning Friday.
Read more: Rustlers stave off Queens, pad front-seat cushion
The Rustlers are up against the second-seeded Red Deer Queens in the best-of-five ACAC final, which runs over the next two weekends.
Game 1 is set for 7:15 p.m. Friday at the Hub’s Co-op Community Arena in Lloydminster.
The eventual finalists met each other in the same rink last October in the historic first game on the Hub’s second ice surface, with Lakeland prevailing 2-1.
Even then, the Rustlers knew what they wanted out of this season.
“We’ve got a lot of depth with our team,” said the Rustlers’ record-setting sniper, Keyra Buziak, the ACAC scoring champion with 28 goals and 46 points in 22 games.
“It’s been our No. 1 goal right from the start, is to be back-to-back champions. We do have home-ice advantage, so that’s going to help us so much.
“We’re looking forward to winning and hoisting that Cup again for the second year in a row.”
To do so, Lakeland (23-2 in regular-season play) must outduel a Red Deer team (17-8) that is playoff-tested after posting two low-scoring, one-goal victories over the NAIT Ooks (14-11) last weekend to sweep that best-of-three semifinal.
Notably, the Ooks were the only team to beat Lakeland this season, and they did so twice.
Last weekend in Lloydminster, it was business as usual for the Rustlers as they scored two convincing wins — 6-1 on Friday and 8-1 on Saturday — over the fourth-seeded Medicine Hat Rattlers (10-15). If a third game had been necessary Sunday, it would also have been played in the Border City.
Those are the rewards from the Rustlers’ dominant regular season. The final is being played in Lloyd and Red Deer, but the Rustlers are home for potentially three of the five scheduled games.
Game 2 goes 5 p.m. Saturday in Red Deer. The series resumes the following weekend (March 13-15), with evening games slated for Lloydminster on Friday, Red Deer on Saturday and Lloyd on Sunday.
Assistant captain Olivia Mann said the Rustlers have earned their stripes this season, from early-morning practices and a commitment to winning on the ice, in the classroom and throughout the community.
In the process, they’ve learned to handle success and life at the top of the standings all season long.
“It’s something we’ve been able to do for two years now, being in first,” said Mann, a 22-year-old education student from Lloydminster and daughter of Rustlers’ head coach Morgan Mann.
“Definitely, we have to put in a lot of work through the week of practising. Me and the other leaders carry a role of being positive and bringing everyone up on the bench.
“It’s been so great, because everyone is so awesome to be a part of the group. There is zero drama. Everyone wants to be here. Positive attitudes. It’s just been unreal.”
That positivity extends beyond the team. Young girls, minor hockey players or otherwise, follow the Rustlers’ every move from the ice to the dressing room. Even the rink attendants often wear Lakeland colours to show support on game nights.
“They hype us up and they wear Rustlers gear,” said Olivia Mann, sporting No. 4 on defence. “They’re an awesome crew.
“With the new rink being built (in Lloydminster), and the chance we get to play here, I feel it’s a great opportunity, especially with all the little kids that come into our dressing room in between periods. They get a chance to see us up close and a chance to maybe be a Rustler one day.”
‘IT’S A GOOD RELATIONSHIP’
In becoming a Rustler, Mann skates with her father’s team, just as she did for parts of her minor hockey years when she was a teammate of her younger brother, George, every other season out of the Hillmond system.
“Having dad as a coach is definitely good and bad — I get both ends of it — but I respect him as a coach,” said Mann, whose fellow assistant captains Kylie Perry and Asha Petrie complete the captaincy group.
“He knows what he’s doing. When I get to the rink, it’s player mentality, not daughter, so it’s a good relationship.”
From a hockey perspective, coach Mann and his daughter downplay their familial connections, but their long association has proved to be beneficial for the Rustlers. Morgan has coached the likes of Olivia, as well as teammate Petrie, for many years through minor hockey and into their college careers.
“It sure gave us a start with the (Lakeland) program, having a group of players right from Lloyd here that I knew and trusted,” Morgan said. “So, having had the opportunity to coach them for a number of years growing up, we had a nucleus there.”
Separating hockey and family at the rink, coach Mann said he’s simply happy to see Olivia playing the game she loves and contributing to the team.
“All I ever ask for as a coach is that you have a good effort and that you’re good to your teammates, and I think she does that, so it’s worked out OK.”
Family ties are familiar for Olivia, as she not only plays under her father in their hometown, but her Rustlers teammates include first cousin Marleigh Mann. Olivia previously played with Marleigh’s older sister, Madelyn.
“Yeah, definitely, being surrounded by family is a feeling like no other,” Olivia said. “I feel really supported, and getting to play with my cousin is awesome. I played with my other cousin, Madelyn, two years ago, and now to get a chance to play with Marleigh, I never thought I’d get to play with them.”
The Rustlers were united like a family last weekend as they not only matched Medicine Hat physically, but most significantly, outdid the Rattlers on the scoreboard in decisive back-to-back games.
Round 1 roundup
RUSTLERS 6, RATTLERS 1: Picking up where she left off in an outstanding regular season, Buziak was buzzing with a four-goal performance that included a power-play marker. Marly Dumanski scored a goal and assisted on two others. Claudia Lammers had the other Lakeland goal, while Kyla Benjamin added two assists.
Aivry Thomas, on a power play, scored the lone Medicine Hat goal against Schay Camphaug, the league’s top goaltender.
Lakeland fired a combined 52 shots on Anna Stewart and Sarah Shields.
RUSTLERS 8, RATTLERS 1: Perry and Alyssa Shaw each tallied twice in the series-clinching victory. Buziak and hometown rookie Ryann Rekimowich each contributed a goal and two assists. It was a four-point weekend for Rekimowich.
Mannville native Ashlyn Hinton, who was also Rekimowich’s teammate last season with the U18 AAA Lloydminster Steelers, collected a goal and an assist. Dumanski netted the other Lakeland goal.
Gracie Soderstrom, with a power-play tally, broke Camphaug’s shutout bid with 1:13 left in the third period.
Camphaug faced just 13 shots on the night, while her fellow Rustlers ripped 42 shots on Shields and Stewart.
QUEENS 2, OOKS 1: In the series-opener at Red Deer, the Queens rallied from a 1-0 deficit with two unanswered goals in the second period.
Hayley Kolosky netted the winner with 3:10 remaining in the second and just a couple of minutes after, she assisted on Natalie Tychkowsky’s first ACAC playoff goal.
Tychkowsky is a graduate of last season’s U18 AAA Steelers, now going up against familiar faces in her return to Lloydminster for the conference final.
Alyssa Tremblay-Houle tallied for NAIT.
The Queens’ Tora Ward and the Ooks’ Ella Howard each registered 27 stops.
QUEENS 3, OOKS 2: In Edmonton on Saturday, Rylee Mepham scored the tying and winning goals in the final three minutes to lift Red Deer into the ACAC championship series against Lakeland.
Jailyn Bablitz also scored for the Queens. Alyson McGregor, with two points, and Maria Ayre answered for the Ooks.
Ward made 31 saves for Red Deer. Jorja Imrie blocked 25 shots for NAIT.
