MANITOBA WOMEN’ S JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
scored twice while Taylor Boehlig scored the eventual winner. And even though Shelby Audet was brilliant in the Stars’ net and Rielle Chwartacki answered the Silvertips with a third-period goal, the‘ Tips had set the stage for the third and final game. In that one, the Stars outshot the Silvertips 30-19, but Cusack was almost flawless in goal for the Silvertips, while the team’ s big line of Hope Anderson, Serena Daniels and Amber DeGraeve, accounted for all of the scoring. DeGraeve opened the scoring early in the first period for the Silvertips on an assist from Daniels, but Claire Sandelovich tied it for the Stars midway through the period. That’ s when the Northern Stars’ player of the game, Breanna Murner, fired a shot from the point that fooled Cusack and gave the Stars a 2-1 lead.
It was my first year and it was great. It’ s such a good group of girls. I haven’ t had too many goals during the playoffs and I was feeling kind of down, but these two really helped. It was good fun
In the second period, Hope Anderson scored a pair of goals to give the Silvertips a 3-2 advantage and then, in the third, Daniels scored from Anderson and Bryn Schmidt to give the‘ Tips the insurance goal they needed. Cusack shut down the Stars the rest of the way and the Silvertips had their first title.“ It was amazing. I’ m ecstatic,” said Daniels, a midget star from Thunder Bay who came to Winnipeg to attend the Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba and found the MWJHL on the internet.“ It’ s my last year and it’ s so nice to win the whole thing.” In the playoffs, Daniels had 12 goals and five assists and finished in a tie for the playoff scoring title with her linemate Anderson, who had four goals and 13 assists. Her other linemate, DeGraeve, scored three times in the last two games and finished with five goals and eight points, fourth in playoff scoring. During the season, Anderson led the MWJHL in scoring with 16 goals and 41 points in 31 games while Daniels was next with 22 goals and 35 points in 29 games. DeGraeve was fourth with 15 goals and 26 points in 29 games. Natasha Esquivel of Western Predators was the only player standing in the way of a Top 3 finish for all three Silvertips linemates in both the regular season and the post-season scoring races.“ Playing with Hope and Autumn was amazing,” said Daniels.“ We really worked together very well. I never had such chemistry with two other linemates before. It seemed like we all knew where we would be and where we were going and we just connected.” Anderson, who came from the Stonewall Blues midgets to the Silvertips, has now won four championships in her career and it’ s a feeling that doesn’ t get old.“ It was my first year and it was great,” said Anderson, who was thrilled with her two-goal performance in the biggest game of the year.“ It’ s such a good group of girls. I haven’ t had too many goals during the playoffs and I was feeling kind of down, but these two really helped. It was good fun.” For Silvertips captain Jennifer Wray, the championship capped off a lot of years battling injuries as a midget and some disappointments during her run as a junior.“ We worked so hard all year for this,” an exhausted Wray said after carrying the championship trophy around the rink.“ I’ ve won championships before, but this is, by far, the best one I’ ve ever won. We have a great team and we’ ve come really far in the last three years. We deserve this. We worked really hard for this.” Wray, is a science student at the U of M, majoring in genetics. It isn’ t easy balancing hockey, studies and a part-time job, but she got it all done this season.“ It’ s tough to juggle it all,” she admitted,“ but I always say, I would give up my job before I’ d give up hockey.” Players like Anderson, Daniels and Wray are just part of the reason why MWJHL president Kirk Kuppers is so proud of his league.“ This league just gets better every year,” said Kuppers.“ And the championship series gets better every year, as well. With the playoffs, these players really get fired up. They find a next gear and put it into overdrive. They just bring so much more energy at this time of year.“ And you can tell they just love the competition. They love it. And it certainly helps that we’ ve had great crowds.”“ I’ m just so proud of all the players in this league,” Kuppers added.“ They play hard every night and this series was proof of that. I love it.” n
128 GAME ON 2017 PLAYOFF EDITION