The U18 Female Stars, sponsored by Kineshanko Logging Ltd., have started the season with a perfect 7-0 record to lead the OMAHA Female Recreational League with wins over Lillooet, Kamloops, Kelowna and Abbotsford. The Stars travelled to Lillooet this past weekend with a small bench of 10 for a set of league games.
The Stars first game Saturday afternoon was a hard fought battle in front of a loud home town fan presence as both teams had chances and it was scoreless until the third period. Goaltender Tyra Cunningham was stellar in net as she made 40 saves to earn the shut out in a 1-0 win as gritty forward Julia Bueckert scored at 17:09 of the third period and held on for the win. Sundays Game was another well fought battle as both teams were working hard for the win. The Stars Kaitlyn Lavalee opened the scoring for the squad in the first period with her first hockey goal of her career at 14:09 to put the Stars on the board with the help of hard working line mates Izzy Huston and Jenna Davidson. The Lillooet team once again pressured Cunningham who once again shut it down between the pipes making another impressive 36 saves.
The Stars short bench battled and worked hard which then saw Huston add to the scoreboard with her first Female goal with 4 min remaining in the third on a beautiful pass from linemate Julia McLennan and Alexis Godard to put the Stars up 2-0. The Home team pulled the goalie with 1:55 left to pressure the Stars with Cunningman robbing them glove save to take the momentum away. Captain Jenna Maltman with fellow Defence players Kiel Hayward and Faith Seehaver played incredible 3 player defence in front of Cunningham all weekend. Stars continue to show how dominating and strong their defensive line is to get by and Cunningham taking away any other chances to get two well deserved shut outs to keep the Stars perfect record going into the Kamloops female tournament next weekend where they will face Abbotsford, Langley and Kamloops in round robin play.
