The Steelers are on a roll — at least when they face the Avalanche.
Other than registering a tie in their last encounter, the Steelers have won every contest between the two womens’ Whitehorse hockey league teams. However, those wins bear the dubious distinction of being their only wins.
Between enchanting bursts of music from an accordion-wielding Avalanche supporter in the stands, the Steelers continued this trend with a 3-1 win over the Avalanche Thursday evening at the Canada Games Centre.
“We’ve always won against the Avalanche and none of the other teams,” said Steelers’ Jenny Bonny.
“We’re the third-best team,” she added, implying that her team’s spot on top of the fourth-place Avalanche is well-founded.
“Maybe that’s it,” agreed teammate Shauna Tizya, who tipped in a loose puck from inside the crease for the game-winner with 4:52 left to play in the first.
Tizya’s goal was assisted by Jocelyn Barrett, who would go on to assist the Stealers’ final goal in the third period.
“I think their team is stacked,” said Darcy Whiten, who scored the Avalanche’s only goal of the game. “They’re a good team; they have some rushers. Our team is just learning.”
The Avalanche came out strong in both the second and third periods, putting pressure on the Stealers. The pressure paid off when at the point Whiten one-timed a pass from Nancy Pumphrey to score 9:13 into the second period.
“A lot of our team doesn’t know its positioning yet,” said Whiten about the increased intensity levels in the first halves of the second and third. “Between periods we are able to talk about how we’re playing and give each other ideas on what to do better.
“Then we start off really good, but then we die off a little bit.”
After 15 minutes of back-and-forth scoreless hockey, the Steelers drew first blood on a goal by Lindy-Jo Aston.
On a pass from Tizya, Aston punched through the Avalanche defenders and popped one in the net from 12 feet out.
Steelers’ Brithnee Laffery scored the third goal with just 29 seconds left in the third.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com