Scoring outage hurts Cats against Fusion, coach Cary Fisher still happy with team progression
By The Nelson Daily Sports
“Snakebitten!”
That was how Kootenay head coach Cary Fisher summed up two B.C. Female Midget AAA Hockey League games against the Vancouver Fusion.
The way Fisher sees it the Wildcats played more than well enough to win the squad just had difficulty putting the biscuit in the basket.
“We played well in all aspects of the game, including our goaltending,” Fisher told The Nelson Daily after returning from a pair of losses — 1-0 Saturday and 4-1 Sunday — to the Fusion at the Pitt Meadows Arena.
“We held (Fusion) to very few chances but we just couldn’t score.”
“We blocked a lot of shots in both games, moved the puck well and the girls worked very hard,” Fisher added. “I have nothing but good things to say about their effort this weekend.”
A goal by Rachel Budden was all the scoring Vancouver would need in game one as the Kootenay offence suffered a power outage.
Sunday, Vancouver scored twice in a 19-second span during the second period to completely change the game.
Erin McLean cut the margin to 2-1 three minutes later.
But the Wildcats had difficulty finding any more offence as, with the Kootenay netminder on the bench for an extra attack, the Fusion scored twice in the empty net.
On the positive Fisher was very pleased with the progression of his young defence.
With both veteran Holly Nikirk of Invermere and Lindsay Swanson of Fruitvale missing the games due to injury, the Wildcats turned to the rookies to carry the bulk of the minutes.
“They all stepped up and played very well which is super encouraging to me,” Fisher said of rookies Mckayla Yuris (Trail), Heidi Haegedorn (Kaslo) and Ava Collier (Kaslo).
The other defenceman bolstering the blueline was Trail’s Erin McLean.
The two goalies for Kootenay are Morgan Flynn and Kayla Keraiff, both of Castlegar.
The two wins push Vancouver into top spot in league standings with a 3-1-1 mark for seven points.
Okanagan Rockets, the next opposition for Kootenay October 15 and 16 in Nelson at the NDCC Arena, are two points behind in second.
Kootenay, 2-3, is tied for third with Fraser Valley Phantom.
Prince George Cougars are winless in four games and occupy the basement.
KOOTENAY NOTES: Despite scoring only once during the weekend, Kootenay still has a player — Kathryn Haegedorn of Kaslo— tied for the top in the scoring stats with five points. Shea Weighill of Nakusp sits in a seven-way tie for third.
sports@thenelsondaily.com
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