Neepawa hosts Female Peewee Provincials

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Published on Wednesday, March 21, 2018

By Eoin Devereux

Neepawa Banner & Press

The Yellowhead Centre was packed with parents, players and coaches this past weekend for the Hockey Manitoba Female Peewee Rural “B” Provincial Championship. Ten teams, including Neepawa, participated in this year’s edition.

Neepawa Minor Hockey Association (NMHA) president Jamie Denbow said that the decision to host a major tournament like this was not taken likely as it is a lot of work. Denbow added, however, that the benefits to both the NMHA and the entire community made it worthwhile. “When driving by the local businesses and restaurants and seeing them all busy, it was great for the community,” noted Denbow. “For our minor hockey organization, this tournament was a huge success, much due to the work of our tournament organizers Ashlee Plett and Trish Phinney. The attendance was excellent and the feedback that we received from parents and fans on the organization, atmosphere and officiating of the tournament was all very positive.”

As for the results for the host team, the Neepawa Storm, they opened up the weekend playing the Brandon Pizza Express Oilers on Friday, Mar. 16. In the opening game, Neepawa was able to defeat Brandon 2-1.

Later in the day, Neepawa returned to ice, this time facing the Pineview Northern Lights. For this game, it was Pineview who was able to blank Neepawa 3-0. 

After going 1-1 in the round robin portion of the weekend, with a plus/minus goal ratio of -2, Neepawa found themselves in the 7th vs. 10th game against Ile des Chenes. In this matchup, Neepawa had a huge effort, collecting the 6-2 win. That propelled the team into the consolation final on Sunday against Somerset. For their final game, Neepawa was once again victorious, this time topping Somerset 2-1. 

In the gold medal game, the Elkhorn Canadians beat the Grand Plains Ice Dogs 4-3, while Pineview won the bronze, by defeating Foxwarren 3-1.