This past weekend, Whitefish hosted their annual Queen of Blades women’s ice hockey tournament.
Fernie was able to enter two teams this year. The Hustlers - who scrimmage every Thursday night in Fernie and are regular attendees at tournaments throughout the year and The Snowcats, who train and scrimmage on Sunday and are a mixed team of novice and experienced players.
The Hustlers have secured their spot in the ‘A’ division of Queen of Blades for a number of years - a competitive team with a quality line up this year of Christa Proulx, Becky Feduik, Christa Donald, Jamie McDonald, Annie Labrie, Deb Harris, Leslie Starky, Laura Bullokc, Harmony Lloyd, Kari Roberts, Patti Malmas Bailey Maxwell and Cindy Carlson in goal. They lost their first and second games against The Wolverines Gold from Whitefish 4-3 and then the Weasels from Bozeman 5-2. The third game was against fellow Canadians - The Kootenay Wildcats from Cranbrook. The Wildcats beat The Hustlers 5-0 and went on to win the whole tournament.
The Snowcats (coached by Fred and Mike) train and scrimmage every Sunday morning in Fernie. This was their first time being accepted to play in the recreational division of the tournament. Some of the players had very little competitive game experience so it was great to only lose by 3-0 to their first opposition from Helena - Ice Pack. All three goals were scored in the first period so they put it down to nerves and looked on the positive side that the second and third period was tied 0-0. The shot count was high on goalie Jackie Power. The Snowcats goalie saved 30+ shots on net.
It was another defeat against the local Whitefish team - The Wolverines Maroon 6-0, but The Snowcats still felt good about a fair contest played in good spirit against a team with more competitive game time. Again, Power, working hard in goal saving over 30 shots was their most valuable player.
The Missoula Ice Hounds were the last scheduled match before Sunday finals. This was a tough defeat at 9-0 as it also took out one of their valuable forwards for the rest of the season. The team wishes Haley a speedy recovery and are organizing a meal train to keep her off her feet while she rests a serious leg injury.
Both Fernie teams finished on a high winning their Sunday games. Dawn Voysey scored a hat trick in the last game for The Snowcats. Deb Davidson scored two and Laura Bullock, one. Final score was 6-2 against the Whitefish team - Northern Lights.
The Hustlers were lined up to play the team from Bozeman, once again this time winning 3-2 against those Weasels, who struggled with sportsmanship throughout the whole tournament. Scorers to win that game were Christa Proulx, Harmony Lloyd and Christa Donald.
If anyone wants to dust off their skates and gear in the new year, please feel free to contact The Hustlers or The Snowcats and come join us on the ice! We would love to see you! Hustlers 8:45 p.m. Thursday or Snowcats 8:30 a.m. Sundays.
