2015 Esso Cup

SHIRLEY SHINES FOR STARS

WENDY GRAVES

RED DEER, Alta. – It’s only the third day of the 2015 Esso Cup and Sophie Shirley (Saskatoon, Sask.) has already made a name for herself.

A two-goal, two-assist performance Tuesday afternoon led her Saskatoon Stars to a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Thunder and moved her to the top of the scoring leaders list with seven points.

Nara Elia (Saskatoon, Sask.), Julia Rongve (Saskatoon, Sask.) and Brittany Heuchert (Saskatoon, Sask.) scored the other Saskatoon goals. Elia and Rongve added an assist each.

Emma Johnson (Saskatoon, Sask.) made 29 saves for the Stars.

As much as the Thunder tried to change the plot – cutting a four-goal deficit to one by the end of the second period – it was Shirley, the Most Valuable Player of the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League, setting the storyline.

It took the forward only 32 seconds to make an impact, when she held the puck on a two-on-one, crossed into the low slot and beat Edmonton goalie Tracie Kikuchi (Edmonton, Alta.).

The Stars doubled their lead before the first period was half over. Defenceman Hollie Coumont (Saskatoon, Sask.) stretched to keep the puck in at the blue line, then threw it to Shirley in the corner. Elia one-timed her pass from the edge of the face-off circle.

Scrambling figuratively and literally the Thunder got called for covering the puck in the crease minutes later.
On the ensuing penalty shot Shirley brought Kikuchi out wide and slid a forehand under the sprawled goalie.
Rongve cleaned up Elia’s rebound early in the second and it appeared the rout was on.

But three straight unassisted goals in 7:42 by Kennedy Becks (Edmonton, Alta.), Kimberley Huisman (Edmonton, Alta.) and Madison Laplante (Edmonton, Alta.) left the Thunder trailing by only one going into the second intermission.

Edmonton stopped all that momentum itself less than five minutes into the third by taking back-to-back minors, giving Saskatoon 1:45 of five-on-three time.

Twelve seconds into the two-man advantage, Heuchert finished a backdoor feed to give the Stars some breathing room. Heuchert’s goal was the first by a Stars player other than Shirley, Elia or Rongve. The trio had accounted for the team’s first nine goals in the tournament to that point.

Kikuchi finished with 29 saves in the loss.

Saskatoon next plays the Red Deer Chiefs on Wednesday night (7 p.m. MT), while Edmonton will look to rebound from its second loss in a row when it takes on winless Moncton Wednesday afternoon (12 p.m.).