2015 Esso Cup

OSWALD LEADS CAPITALS TO FIRST WIN OF ESSO CUP

WENDY GRAVES

RED DEER, Alta. – Sheridan Oswald (MacGregor, Man.) had two goals and two assists, Emily Upgang (Poplar Point, Man.) scored twice and Tamara McVannel (MacGregor, Man.) and Mekaela Fisher (Warren, Man.) also had multi-point games as the Central Plains Capitals got in the win column Tuesday, defeating the Moncton Rockets 6-1 at the 2015 Esso Cup.

Haley Proteau (Winnipeg, Man.) and Sydney Taylor (Portage la Prairie, Man.) also scored for the Capitals.
Lauren Taraschuk (Winnipeg, Man.) made 21 saves in the win.

Brooke Murphy (Balla Philip, N.B.) had the lone goal for Moncton, with Morgan Porter (Moncton, N.B.) and Emma Rae Murphy (Petitcodiac, N.B.) picking up the assists.

Moncton goalie Emilie Arsenault (St. Louis, N.B.) stopped 39 of 45 shots.

It was only Day 3, but it felt like do-or-die for both teams. The Capitals were winless after two games, picking up a single point in a shootout loss; the Rockets sat at the bottom of the standings with two regulation losses. Another loss for either meant a long road back to qualifying for the playoffs.

Central Plains had struggled to score in its first two games, managing only two goals. The Capitals equaled their output in the first 20 minutes.

Oswald got her team on the board only 1:46 in, when she deflected McVannel’s wrist shot from the high slot.

Murphy tied it up five minutes later, when Porter’s pass from the side boards found its way through a triangle of defenders to the far face-off circle. Murphy roofed her one-timer far side. It was the first power play goal the Capitals had allowed; the team had killed all eight penalties called on it coming in.

Upgang, on a rebound, restored the Capitals one-goal advantage before the period was over.

After the evenly played first, the Capitals dominated the last two-thirds of the game, finishing with more than twice as many shots as the Rockets (45-22).

A give-and-go between Fisher and Oswald on the power play put the Manitoba champions up two early in the second. Proteau deflecting Sarah Thomson’s (Portage la Prairie, Man.) point shot increased the lead to three late in the period.

The Capitals extinguished any notion of a Rockets comeback early in the third. Taylor’s point shot beat Arsenault with one second left on the power play.

Central Plains, who averaged only 2.2 goals a game during the regular season, kept its offence buzzing. A crisp passing play from Leandra Timmerman (Treherne, Man.) to Oswald to Upgang gave the Capitals its third goal – in eight chances – on the man-advantage.