The female U18 Pembina Valley Hawks had a pair of games this past week against teams at the opposite end of the standings.
After by edged 2-1 last Wednesday by the Winnipeg Ice, who closed out the week in first place, the Hawks then outscored the last-place Interlake Lightning 7-5 on Saturday.
The Hawks battled hard with the Ice—who came into the game in second place in the standings behind the Eastman Selects—but Pembina Valley came up just short.
The Ice grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period before Casey O’Brien’s seventh goal of the season brought the Hawks to within one in the second, but Pembina Valley was not able to get the equalizer.
Madison Froese helped keep the Hawks in the game with 26 saves as the Ice had a slim 28-27 edge in shots on goal.
Against Interlake, Pembina Valley led 2-1 after one period before the game was tied at three at the second intermission.
The third period then saw an offensive explosion with the Lightning initially taking a 5-3 lead before the Hawks closed it out with four unanswered goals.
Payton Manness had a pair of goals for the Hawks with the other markers coming from Rylee Harms, Bree Pearce, Leah Klassen, Sophia Cox, and Delaney Darby. Hannah Bannister made 24 saves as the Hawks outshot Interlake 40-29.
Pembina Valley remains in seventh place at 6-8-0-1 for 13 points, but they are just one point back of the Winnipeg Avros and Central Plains and three behind Yellowhead.
The Hawks have a pair of tough games this week against the top two teams, facing Eastman Friday and the Winnipeg Ice Sunday. In between those two games is a rematch against last-place Interlake on Saturday.
