The female U18 Pembina Valley Hawks have been having a rough go of it lately, including having now lost five of their last six games.
The lone bright spot came last week as the seventh-place Hawks earned a 3-2 shootout victory Wednesday over the eighth and last-place Interlake Lightning. That was followed by a 5-2 loss to the third-place Winnipeg Avros this past Saturday.
Pembina Valley had been trailing 2-1 going into the third period against Interlake, but Casey O’Brien’s second of the game and ninth of the season evened it up at 2-2 just 3:11 into the third.
Overtime solved nothing, so it went to a shootout that lasted five rounds and saw Payton Manness and Clare Boyd connecting for the Hawks to earn the extra point. Shots on goal were 42-26 in favour of the Hawks, with Madison Froese earning the win in net.
On Saturday, Pembina Valley had grabbed a 2-0 lead on the Avros in the second period but couldn’t keep the momentum, as Winnipeg had it even at 2-2 after 40 minutes and then put it away with three goals in the third.
O’Brien scored her 10th of the season while Sophia Cox got the team’s other goal. In net, Froese made 37 saves as the Avros held a 42-29 edge in shots on goal.
Pembina Valley’s record has now dropped to 7-13-0-1 for 15 points, which leaves them nine ahead of Interlake and two back of Central Plains.
Coming up, The Hawks are participating in the 13th annual Female World Sport School Challenge tournament Jan. 22–25 at the Hockey For Life Centre in Headingley
They return to league play with a pair of home games Jan. 31 against Yellowhead and Feb. 1 against Westman.
