The Stettler Peewee girls had started the best-of-three finals by losing their first game to Warburg, but with determination and some great work they were able to win the championship as they beat their opponents in the second game and finally in the third game, which they won 4-3 in Warburg on Wednesday, March 23.
Although Warburg scored first, Stettler soon took over as Alandra Couch scored Stettler's first goal, assisted by Amie Rowland and Sidney Kobi.
In the second period Stettler took the lead with Gabby Heck scoring the second goal for Stettler, assisted by Couch and Megan Zimmer.
By the end of second period, Stettler was leading 3-2, the third goal being scored by an unassisted Kobi.
"We knew Warburg would throw everything at the girls in the third period and Stettler was able to keep them from scoring until 22 seconds on the clock, which tied the game and forced us into sudden death overtime with a 4 on 4 format," said coach Jolene Heck. "We went into overtime with a specific plan and the girls were able to execute it perfectly with Emma Nixon making a nice pass up ice to Alandra Couch to finish the game off."
Warburg fought hard, but Stettler Peewees were a little ahead of them in this game.
"We are super proud of how well our peewee girls played this year, and ultimately, how they were able to push themselves to the end and be awarded with the league championship," said Heck. "These girls were able to 'make history' by winning the first-ever league championship battle in the Rocky Mountain Female North Peewee Tier 1 league."
According to Heck, Warburg had a strong team and led the league all year, but they knew that having to go back to Warburg for game three would be a challenge for the girls.
"Most of the Warburg roster is compiled of second-year, big strong girls and playing them in their hometown on a smaller ice surface, we knew we would have to play aggressively and not take any shifts off," said Heck. "The majority of our Stettler team are first-year players and some are still relatively new to hockey, but our girls rose to the challenge with great goaltending and by playing aggressive with a relentless fore-check and strong defence."
Heck said that the coaches really valued the time they were able to spend with the girls.
"They are very dedicated, determined and mature young ladies that should be proud of how they carried themselves both on and off ice this year," said Heck.