The NAIT Ooks women's hockey team will compete in the ACAC finals and look for their first Championship since the 2014-15 season. The Ooks made quick work of the Olds Broncos in last weekend's semi-finals. The Ooks swept the Broncos and outscored them 6-1 in their series. The Ooks got an early lead in game one and never looked back, as Kaitlyn Slator stopped all 19 shots en route to a 2-0 shutout victory. In game two, the Ooks scored three goals in the first period and glided to a 4-1 win. The women will face the second-placed Red Deer Queens in a best-of-five series.
The Ooks and Queens were the two top teams for most of the season. The two schools faced off five times this season, with each game being a tight affair. The Ooks were victorious in three of those meetings and will be hoping for similar results. Cheyanna Harden has been one of the league's top point producers all season, and she's been nothing short of brilliant against the Queens. She has found the back of the net three times in their season series when goals have been hard to come by. Bre Martin has been equally as exceptional, scoring three times as well. Head Coach Brendan Jensen knows how important Harden and Martin will be along with the rest of the team.
"Any Championship team I have been a part of has had contributions from players throughout the lineup," said Jensen.
The Ooks have had no trouble scoring, as they led the ACAC in goals per game, but they excelled on the defensive side. The Ooks were the league's best when it came to keeping the puck out of their net. A large part of that success has to do with their netminders. Kaitlyn Slator was among the league's best goalies, ranking second in both goals against and save percentage. Slator raised her level of play when facing the league's second-best offence from Red Deer, posting a .941 save percentage in three starts. Jensen knows how vital his goalies have been for the Ooks this season.
"Slator and all our goalies have been solid for us this season. Having players back there with calming demeanours has really helped steady the ship for us depending on how the game is going," said Jensen.
The Queens is a similar group to the Ooks. They have dominated the league in both goals for and goals against. They finished as the second-ranked team in both categories, behind the Ooks. The Queens are a team who relies on depth scoring, although their leading scorer, Avery Lajeunnesse, has been an Ook killer this season. Four of her eight goals have come versus the Ooks. NAIT has done a great job containing Madison Sansom, as she has only produced one assist in the season series. She finished tied for fifth in league scoring. Queen's netminder Izzy Palumbo has been near-perfect this season. She led the ACAC in goals against average and save percentage during the regular season. Jensen is excited for the challenge ahead against one of the league's best.
"We are an excited group for this series. Being able to be one of the final two teams left playing is a huge accomplishment and something," said Jensen.
The series begins this Friday at 7:00 p.m. at the NAIT Ooks arena. The clubs then travel to Red Deer for game two on Saturday night. Games three, four and five will be played next weekend. Visit the ACAC website for game times and updates. All games will be streamed on the ACAC viewing services, which can be located on the website.