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P.E.I. is revved up

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Charlottetown
Team Nova Scotia goaltender Kristen Wolfe
looks behind her as the puck enters the net
from a shot by Kelsey O'Donnell, left, of
Team P.E.I. during the Esso Women’s
Nationals hockey championships
Wednesday at MacLauchlan Arena.
Guardian photo by Brian McInnis

BY JIM DAY
The Guardian
March 13, 2008

Kelsey O’Donnell says two wins in two days has Team P.E.I. players feeling optimistic that they can win their division at the Esso Women’s Nationals hockey championships.

“Everyone is feeling very confident now,’’ said O’Donnell, who scored P.E.I.’s third goal in a 3-1 win over Nova Scotia Wednesday at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown. “The dressing room . . . the energy in there is just amazing and it just gets going every game.’’

O’Donnell, named player of the game for P.E.I. Wednesday, came storming into the competition with two goals and two assists in the team’s 6-3 win against Manitoba Tuesday to open their play in the tournament.

“I just got it in my mind that I have to start right away,’’ said O’Donnell, 18, of Souris. “I can’t wait. I just started working as hard as I can and it’s paying off.’’

The win gives P.E.I. (2-0) six points and clinches first place in the round-robin portion of the tournament for Pool B, which consists of four teams competing for the provincial team title.

Manitoba (1-1) and New Brunswick (1-1) are tied for second with three points each. Nova Scotia (0-2) has one point for its shootout loss to New Brunswick on Tuesday.

Manitoba edged New Brunswick 5-4 in the other game on Wednesday.

Semifinal matchups will be determined after today’s games with P.E.I. playing New Brunswick at 12:30 p.m. and Nova Scotia taking on Manitoba at 9 a.m. Both games are at MacLauchlan Arena.

Competition also begins today in Charlottetown with four other teams — Minnesota Whitecaps, Brampton Canadette-Thunder, Mississauga Chiefs and Calgary Oval — vying for the top Canadian title in women’s hockey in the club division. Diana Benell, 20, of Webster Corner had a shaky start for P.E.I. Wednesday but didn’t let a goal just 50 seconds into the contest phase her.

She went on to stop the remaining 40 shots.

“Well, it’s a little bit of nerves,’’ she said.

“It’s a national tournament. Just trying to get the jitters out, but I had a lot of confidence going in so I knew it wasn’t going to affect the team and we battled strong and came back.’’

Amanda Armstrong took care of the comeback, scoring her first goal of the tournament at 12:56 of the first period and following up just under two minutes later with a power-play marker to give Team P.E.I. a 2-1 lead.

O’Donnell rounded out the scoring at 9:05 of the second with an unassisted power play goal.

Five penalties in the third seemed to stunt Nova Scotia from making any serious attempt to get back in the game.

Still, the team outshot P.E.I. 41-26.

Combined with Manitoba’s 46-13 shot margin over P.E.I. Tuesday, O’Donnell said the team needs to do a better job getting the puck out of their zone.

“We get caught in our end a lot so we definitely have to start breaking out better and that will be key,’’ she said.

“Keep the shots down too and a strong defence in our end.’’

P.E.I. head coach Al MacKay said while his players are having trouble getting the puck out of their own end, they are keeping a lot of the shots to the outside and covering well up the middle.

“We obviously like to see the shots turned around and give them (P.E.I. goalies) a little bit of a rest, but this formula is working so far,’’ said MacKay.

P.E.I. has been outshot in each of their six periods of play so far in the tournament.

MacKay said the team has confidence in both goalies and play just as well in front of Benell as they do when Elizabeth LeGay, the star of the first game, is in goal.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard

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