The perennial favourites for the provincial banner are leaving little room for doubt.
The back-to-back provincial champion Rocky Mountain Raiders are optimistic good things will come in threes after dispatching the Calgary Outlaws in a two-game sweep to advance to the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League’s South Division final.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves with the record that we had,” said Raiders head coach Jordan Fenton, whose team finished with a remarkable 20-1-3 mark in the regular season. “We do expect to win, but we expect to work hard for it in those games.”
The Raiders put a stamp on their semifinal berth with their series-clinching 7-1 win March 15 at Calgary’s Justice Joseph Kryczka Arena.
Cochrane sniper Taylor Sawka paced the Raiders with her three-goal, five-point performance while linemate Breanne Trotter of Okotoks chipped in with a pair of tallies in a three-point effort. Dynamite blueliner Jane Jacobs of Carseland picked up a goal and an assist.
The Raiders took the series opener by a 4-1 count March 14 in Cochrane. Jacobs scored a pair with Sawka and Trotter each finding the back of the net. Cochrane’s Amanda Zeglen stopped 27 of 28 shots to pick up the win.
“We just had to pull together and play our game,” said Trotter, an alternate captain with the Raiders.
Rocky Mountain was a cut above in the regular season, too, out-scoring opponents by a 121-34 margin and suffering just the one defeat. The Raiders went undefeated en route to the provincial banner last season, their second championship in as many years on the province’s top bantam girls circuit.
“Our goal is to win every game we play,” Fenton said.
“To put a game together in which the players execute and they play a good team game where everybody puts a solid effort in and the results should take care of themselves.”
Next up for the Raiders is a semifinal date with the Red Deer Chiefs with a spot in the league final on the line. Rocky Mountain opens against Red Deer on March 20 at Cochrane Arena, 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
