Fire heats up a cold Leduc

Teamwork in defence by Bex Alloway and goalie Rebecca Boswell prevent North Central Impact from scoring during their Alberta Female Hockey League Midget Elite game at Leduc Recreation Centre on February 2, 2019. © J. Ashley Nixon

Leduc, February 2-3, 2019

Some big numbers were posted by Fire Red during the Alberta Female Hockey League Midget Elite Showcase. In this festival of female hockey during the Rogers Hometown Hockey weekend in Leduc, the Calgary team accumulated 21 goals to win all of their three games. Even better was their defensive record-just one goal against in 180 minutes of play in front of a collection of hockey scouts from Hockey Alberta, Hockey Canada, and academic institutions in western Canada.

The first of the two Saturday games, against Edmonton Pandas, demonstrated the rich seam of shooters in Fire Red with nine players going on the score sheet for their nine goals: Ella Kitchen, Siobhan Sullivan, Jayna Barnden, Adria Lubert, Skye Mathew, Hannah Suto, Teah Workman, Isobel Pettem-Shand, and Kelly Standford. In the second game of the day, the scorekeeper was kept busy again, with eight goals coming from Stanford (3), Lubert, Meghan Dean, Mathew, and Sullivan.

It was a tough tussle against Sherwood Park Fury in the final game on Sunday. Despite a penalty toll of 15 offences from Sherwood Park, the Calgary side kept their cool and landed four goals scored by Stanford, who got her second hat trick of the weekend and Olivia Sutton. Sherwood put in just one goal to rob the Fire side of a comprehensive three-game shut-out. Final score: Sherwood Park Fury 1-4 Calgary Fire Red.

Song of the match

For a change, I’m going with a song that never got played in Leduc but could have been just to throw a fist at the weather that got down to minus 29°C. The award goes to Third World and 96 Degrees in the Shade. Here is a live version from Jamaica that comes from Jérôme Laperrousaz’s documentary film about reggae music (Made in Jamaica, 2006) and selected in celebration of the recent announcement that reggae music has been recognized by UNESCO for its Intrinsic Culture Heritage.

Up next: Calgary Fire Red MAA travel north to Airdrie on Friday, February 8 to play against the Lightning at Genesis Place Arena (20:00).

More action from the games

For more photos from the Alberta Female Hockey League Midget Elite games between Calgary Fire Red and North Central Impact, please visit J. Ashley Nixon Communications and go here for photos from the game against Sherwood Park Fury.

Standings

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