Fire Storm the North

December 1, 2018

The road north on Saturday was long and white. A snowstorm announced the arrival of December and followed the Calgary Fire Red Midget AA team bus up the QE2 Highway. We passed an overturned semi that had shed its timber load across the road and several other ditched vehicles but made the 716 km journey to Grande Prairie for the Midget Elite Alberta Female Hockey League game against Peace Country Storm safe and well. A Tim Hortons stop almost halfway in Spring Grove provided not only coffee and baked goods but the Wick Fest trophy which had erroneously made its way out of Winsport last weekend with the St. Albert team.

Rebecca Alloway opened the scoring, unassisted for Fire Red a couple of minutes into the opening period at the Weyerhaeuser Arena but the advantage was short-lived after Tea Vasseur equalized for the Storm. Strong defence by both teams kept the score that way until seven minutes into the second period when Kelly Stanford broke through her defensive marker to hit the puck up and over the glove of the Storm goalie, Grace Lutz.

Stanford scored her second goal of the game 13 minutes into the final period but the Storm still looked dangerous, forcing some solid work between the pipes by Fire Red’s goalie, Rebecca Boswell. With less than a minute remaining, Siobhan Sullivan took the game out of contention with an empty-netter.

Final score: Peace Country 1-4 Calgary Fire Red MAA

Up next: Further heavy snow accompanied the Fire Red team as they journeyed south on Sunday morning. With safety concerns associated with more snow before a late night departure from Red Deer, the decision was taken to cancel the game against the Sutter Fund Chiefs. That fixture will be rescheduled for March next year but the teams will meet in Calgary on Saturday, December 8 at Great Plains Arena (puck-drop: 19:00).

More action from the game

For more photos from the game please visit J. Ashley Nixon Communications.

Standings

For the latest information on the Midget AA Elite standings, please visit the Alberta Female Hockey League.