The Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival in Calgary has been kind to teams from Yellowknife in recent years.
The 2019 Canada Winter Games girls team won their division last year and this year, it was the turn of the Yellowknife Wolfpack senior girls squad.
photo courtesy of Rob Hart
The ladies, known as the DT Electric Senior Wolfpack Girls in town, took the spoils in the midget Tier 3 division thanks to a 7-2 win over the GHC Jr. Inferno squad from Calgary in the final on Nov. 18. It was a reversal of fortunes as the Inferno defeated the Wolfpack in the round-robin meeting between the two teams immediately before the final, 5-3.
The ladies played four round-robin games in total with three lopsided wins to their credit, the loss to the Inferno being the lone blemish on their record.
“Once we got out to a comfortable lead, we started to focus on things we wanted to get better at,” said Rob Hart, the team's head coach. “We worked on our defensive zone plays, offensive pressure and it was good to see the girls getting stronger and better every game.”
Hart thought his ladies were the better of the two teams when they played the Inferno in the round-robin but it was just one of those games.
“We ran into a hot goaltender,” he said. “I thought we had the better chances, the better pressure, better puck control but I told the girls after the game that you can be the underdog and have that kind of game.”
The loss meant the Wolfpack ended up finishing second following the round-robin but it was good enough to get them into the gold medal game as the top two teams advanced right through.
Hart said he didn't make any wholesale changes before the final.
“We tweaked a couple of things but the message was just get back to the basics,” he said. “Things like putting the puck on net, work on passing. I know (the Inferno) thought they were the better team and would beat us twice but anyone who's played in a tournament will tell you it's tough to beat the same team twice.”
The Wolfpack came out the better of the two teams in the final, potting two in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
“The girls were brilliant in the first,” said Hart. “I don't think they gave up a good scoring chance in the first. They were transitioning well and everything was clicking.”
But as much as they may have been clicking, the Wolfpack got themselves into penalty trouble early in the second period and that came back to bite them as the Inferno struck twice in quick fashion to tie the game at 2-2.
That struck some fear into Hart.
“I was thinking this could be dangerous,” he said. “They had plenty of parents and fans in the stands being from Calgary and they were making a lot of noise.”
As was the case all tournament long, the goaltenders were swapped out at the halfway point as Ellie Loutitt came off the bench in place of Kamilah Gostick of Hay River and it seemed to do the trick as Loutitt shut the door the rest of the way.
The Wolfpack restored its two-goal lead near the end of the second period to make it 4-2 and took charge in the third, scoring another three unanswered to skate away with the title.
“The girls didn't flinch at all under the pressure,” said Hart. “They were confident and they worked together. I was worried a bit that they would crumble but when we got that fourth goal, I had that sense that we were finishing them off and now we were back in control.”
Most of the players hailed from Yellowknife but there was a bit of help from Hay River and Fort Smith as each community provided three players a piece to help shore up the roster.
Hart said there was no issue whatsoever about cohesion.
“They started getting used to each other quickly,” he said. “There are a lot of girls who will be trying out for the Arctic Winter Games team and it was great to get them together on the same team.”