What has been a breakthrough season for the Battlefords Sharks in female midget AAA hockey ended Sunday night in Prince Albert.
Even though the Sharks took a 2-0 lead in game five over the home town Prince Albert A&W Bears, it was the Bears who won game five 6-3 -- and the series 3-2.
The Sharks could take pride in pushing the Bears to the limit. Once again, though, the Sharks could not solve the Bears on the road at Art Hauser Centre, and that meant the end for what was the most promising and exciting Sharks season in several years.
Just getting to a deciding game was an accomplishment in itself. Optimism was not high for game four in Battleford, after the Sharks came off a humbling 7-0 defeat in game 3 in Prince Albert on Wednesday night.
The Sharks entered game four facing elimination. But they surprised everyone, except perhaps themselves, when Jetta Derenoski scored the first goal from Mackenzie Cey and Taylor Fiske to give them a 1-0 lead at home.
Tylor Lindsay's power play goal for the Bears tied it up at 1-1 after the first period. But goaltender Shelby Tornato kept the Bears off the score sheet the rest of the night as she would end up stopping 42 of 43 shots.
There were no goals in the second, but 34 seconds into the third period Cey scored from Raina Cole to give the Sharks the lead, and then at 5:12 Kailee McGarry scored from Cey and Landry Derdall to make it 3-1.
The Sharks' Morgan Fraser, with Derenoski assisting, put home the empty net goal that sealed a 4-1 Sharks win in front of their fans at Battleford Arena. Against the odds the Sharks had booked their return trip to Prince Albert for game five Sunday night for all the marbles.
During the first period of the pivotal deciding game, it looked as if the Sharks might indeed shock the world.
Two goals -- one by Cole from Cey and Derenoski at 10:32, and then Derenoski unassisted with 5:29 left in the first -- gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead.
But the Bears fought back as Sierra Parenteau and then Jayda Sachs scored to tie it up, with Sachs' goal coming shorthanded with 56 seconds left in the period.
Despite the two late goals, the Sharks had managed to keep the game even at 2-2 despite an 18-5 shots advantage for the Bears.
The Bears then took the lead in the second period as Brooke Hobson's power play goal early in the second gave the home team a 3-2 lead. Then Hobson assisted on Madison Cavasant's goal which made it 4-2. Marlee Clarkson's goal with 2:39 remaining in the period made it 5-2 Prince Albert -- an almost insurmountable cushion heading to period three. By this point shots were 35-16 in favor of the Bears.
The third period moved swiftly, but to the end the Sharks refused to quit as they actually outshot the Bears in the period by a margin of 13-7.
With 1:22 remaining, the Sharks' Morgan Fraser scored a power play marker with Cassidy Fehr and Landry Derdall assisting, for what would be the final Sharks goal of 2014-15.
Casavant's goal into the empty net for PA with 15 seconds left wrapped up the scoring and the series.
The Bears move on, winning by a final score of 6-3. Final shots on goal favoured the Bears 42-29.
It was a valiant effort in the end, but that's a wrap for the Battlefords Sharks players and fans for another hockey season.
