submitted by Rob Davidson
The 1st place Saugeen Maitland
Midget Lightning AA’s advanced to the 2nd round of their Lower Lakes
playoff round after two wins and a tie against a scrappy 8th place
Windsor Wildcat team this weekend. The Lightning will now play the
Waterloo Ravens in a 2nd round match up.
Picking up the winning goal in the pivotal 3rd
game against Windsor was veteran, Laken Smith while goaltender, Stephanine
Sluys went undefeated in weekend play. Also scoring on the weekend
for Saugeen was Marcie Landman (3), Dollee Meigs (2), Georgia Ottewell and Brittany Butcher while assists went to Gina Murray (3), Ashley Reid (3), Brooklyn Irwin, Laura Irwin, Hannah Davidson, Nicole Marriage and Kelly Garrow.
This coming weekend, the Lighting will be taking part is the O.W.H.A. Provincial Championships in Brampton with the gold medal winner advancing to the Esso Cup National Women’s Midget hockey Championships in St. Albert, Alberta in April. The Bolts will see tough competition in their opening round robin play. Saugeen will play games against league rival Wateroo, as well as, Kingston and the Thunder Bay Queens who currently sit as the 2nd ranked Midget team in Canada and last year’s Canadian and OWHA gold medal winners. Playing in goal for Thunder Bay is Amanda Makela, a member of Canada’s Under 18 team and recent silver medalist at the I.I.H.F. World Championships. The Lighting will enter the provincials as the 11th ranked team out of 89 elite Midget teams in Canada and boast an overall record of 38 wins, 14 losses and 10 ties which includes only one loss in their past 14 games.