The Rocky Mountain Raiders earned a keepsake from their first national journey.
Debutantes on the National Midget AAA Female Hockey Championship stage, the Raiders skated to a bronze medal at the 2016 Esso Cup after shutting out the Saskatoon Stars by a 3-0 count on April 23 in Weyburn, Sask.
“The girls I know they battled hard and when they came in today we wanted to play for pride, for our jersey and that’s what we did,” said head coach Paul Pozzi, to Hockey Canada after the bronze medal game. “This team really came together as a family very quickly. They supported each other and it’s a great team chemistry in that room.
“It doesn’t take a lot for me to motivate them because they do that for each other. We created that culture right from the beginning of the season.”
The Raiders were inches away from playing for another medal on Championship Saturday.
A heartbreaking 4-3 shootout loss in the semifinal to Quebec’s Express de Richelieu kept Rocky Mountain, the top team in round-robin play, out of the gold medal game.
Saskatoon was foiled by the Brantford Ice Cats, the eventual national champion, in the other semi.
“We knew coming into this game that Saskatoon was going to be pretty mad about their loss, too,” said Raiders captain Nicolette Seper.
“Our three goals and Kate (Lloyd) played awesome so that was really nice.”
Lloyd made 18 saves for the shutout. Nanton’s Hanna Matchett, Okotoks’ Breanne Trotter and Strathmore’s Hailey McCallum all found the back of the net in the bronze medal tilt.
“Our bond, we’re all such good friends and a great team,” said Trotter, a Grade 10 student at Holy Trinity Academy. “We all worked so hard to get here and it’s just a blast.”
The Raiders were the class of the tournament’s round-robin, skating to a record of 3-1-1.
McCallum had two goals in the team’s 2-1 triumph over Brantford, Metro Boston Pizza blanked Rocky Mountain 2-0, Paige Russell, Kennedy Moore and Megan Campbell tallied in a 3-1 win over Saskatoon and Seper scored twice to edge out Express de Richelieu 3-2. The Raiders would complete round-robin in a 3-2 shootout loss to the host Weyburn Gold Wings in what was a harbinger of things to come in the semifinal.
Trotter finished with four points in the tournament, DeWinton’s Ava Thiessen chipped in with three assists, Okotoks’ Kennedy Brown added two helpers and Lacey DiMaulo contributed one assist. Affiliate player Rachel Weiss, from DeWinton, also added an assist.
Alternate captain and rock solid blueliner Cassidy Trotter wrapped up her minor hockey career with a bronze medal around her neck alongside younger sister Breanne.
Lloyd was the star of the tournament for Rocky Mountain. The 16-year-old puck stopper was awarded Top Goaltender of the Esso Cup after posting a record of 4-0-1 along with a .948 save percentage and 1.34 goals against average.
“None of us ever expected to make it this far,” said Lloyd, from Chestermere. “We started out this year wanting to have a good year, but nobody ever expected us to make it to nationals let alone come home with a medal.
“It’s not as good as gold would feel, but it definitely feels good to bring something home.”
Winners of their first Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League and Pacific Regional championships, the Raiders are well-positioned for another run at a national medal next season.
Lost to graduation are Seper, Russell, Matchett and Cassidy Trotter meaning as many as 14 players and key contributors are eligible to return for the 2016-17 season.
For more information on the team follow them on Twitter at @raidergirlsAAA.
