2010 Esso Cup

CO-OPERATORS CENTRE ERUPTS IN CHEERS AS REGINA REBELS WIN SPOT IN SEMIS

REGINA, Sask. – For hometown hockey fans, the final preliminary matchup Thursday night at the Co-operators Centre was about as good as it gets.

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That’s because host team the Regina Rebels, considered the underdogs going into this week’s tournament, came out on top 3-1 over the Remparts du Richelieu from Quebec.

But it was undoubtedly tense in the arena throughout the first, with the puck seeing action at both ends of the ice but never crossing the goal line on either side. The spectators couldn’t take their eyes off the game as Richelieu goalie Maude Byrns-Handfield (Longueuil, Que.) made ten saves in the first alone and Regina netminder Samantha Langford (Pense, Sask.) stopped seven shots throughout the period.

Much to the excitement of ecstatic local fans, Regina’s very own Andrea Ehrmantraut (White City, Saks.) scored a beautiful shorthanded goal that soared passed Byrns-Handfield at 16:23 in the second, with help from Patricia McGauley (Regina, Sask.).

But Quebec would answer back in the third, with Genevieve Bannon (Candiac, Que.) evening up the score at 1-1 at 11:26 on a power play chance. Valerie St-Onge was credited with the assist. McGauley, however, would come through again for the host team, by getting the puck on her stick and scoring the game winner at 17:40, with Ehrmantraut and Paige Anakaer (Moose Jaw, Sask.) also contributing.

Kelsa Duffy (Regina, Sask.) secured an unassisted insurance goal for the Rebels with less than one minute left in the third, as the Co-operators Centre erupted into ear-piercing hoots and hollers. Byrns-Handfield won Player of the Game for Richelieu, while Ehrmantraut received the honour for the host team for contributing to two of her team’s three goals.