After struggling through much of late January and early February, the ICE found themselves in a familiar place...Hartney. Possibly the toughest place to play for the Winnipeg ICE in the past two seasons, Hartney was the location for the second last game of the year for the ICE. Two streaks were active that day, both favouring the Westman Wildcats. The first streak, was the ICE's current 5 game losing streak, which included very close losses to the Avros, PV, Yellowhead, and 2 to Central Plains. The other streak was an impressive 8 league game wins in a row for the Wildcats.
The ICE players spoke of patience and team play as keys to the game before the puck was dropped. The ICE came out with nothing to lose and had a few early chances, before Kelsey McHolm scored on the PP less than 5 minutes into the game. The Wildcats answered back 4 minutes later on a PP of their own, but the ICE kept pressing. A very close first period ended 1-1, with the shots 10-8 for the ICE. The second period was close checking again, and both teams made attempts to take over the game. Back and forth it went, until Kelli Rowswell scored 7 minutes into the second period, followed by Renee Stevenson's quick goal right off of a face-off making it 3-1 for the ICE. The Wildcats narrowed the gap to 3-2 on another PP just before the period ended. A confident Winnipeg ICE team looked to continue their strong play for the final period. Team defense was on the menu for the third, as Westman pressed for the equalizer. Despite outshooting the ICE 17-4 in the third period, Kathleen Kosior stopped all of the shots she faced to seal the victory for the ICE. Rielle Chwartacki scored into an empty net with 10 seconds left, as the ICE escaped Hartney with a 4-2 win over the Wildcats. Kosior was excellent in net, stopping 31 of the 33 shots she faced.
It was a great team win for the ICE, as each player played one of their best games of the season.
In the final game of the year, the ICE didn't show the same commitment to team play and ended up losing 9-1 to PV. A very tough way to close out the regular season, BUT the standings have now been erased, nothing left except playoffs!!!!!!
