By Scott Roblin

Atom Wildcats sweep round-robin, finish first in pool at provincials

Mar 16, 2019 | 7:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Scoring is coming early and often for the Medicine Hat Wildcats, getting off to a 3-0 start hosting Alberta Female Atom Provincials this weekend.

Opening their tournament with a pair of victories over the Picture Butte Blades and Red Deer Chiefs, the Wildcats capped off the perfect round-robin on Saturday afternoon at the Kinplex.

Taking on the visiting Lloydminster Blazers, the Wildcats found themselves trailing by a wide margin early after allowing three goals in the span of less than three minutes.

Medicine Hat leading scorer Myla Motz was stopped the bleeding 8:24 into the first period with her first of the afternoon, before adding another goal six minutes later to make it 3-2.

Motz then broke out her playmaking ability, setting up Jayden Dennison for the game-tying marker just 39 seconds later.

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It took the Wildcats just 1:45 into the second period to take their first lead of the afternoon, thanks to an unassisted marker from Kapri Coston.

Over the final six minutes of the frame, the Wildcats exploded for three goals from Motz, Coston, and Molleigh Coombs to lead Lloydminster 7-3 at the second intermission.

Isabella Ferguson and Parvati Broesky lit the lamp early in the third period for Medicine Hat to grow the lead to 9-3, before the Blazers answered back with a pair of goals a few minutes later.

Ferguson was able to tack on her second goal of the period however, giving the Wildcats a 10-5 lead which they would not surrender.

Motz led the Wildcats with a hat-trick and four points in the victory, while Ferguson and Coston had a pair of goals each.

Between the Medicine Hat pipes, netminder Aviana Velichko stopped 12 of the 17 shots that came her way on Saturday.

Topping Pool ‘A’ with a 3-0 record, the Wildcats will get up bright and early on Sunday to do battle with either West Central or Camrose in provincial semi-final action at 8:00 am at the Kinplex.

The 2019 Female Atom Provincial tournament will wind up later in the day with the gold medal match, which will be played at 4:00 pm.