Stars Top Hounds in Mandi Schwartz Final

Marc Smith - Discover Moose Jaw
The Notre Dame Hounds put together an incredible run over the weekend that ended up falling just short on Sunday.

The host Hounds lost 3-1 to the Saskatoon Stars at the Duncan McNeill Arena in Wilcox in the final of the 2018 Mandi Schwartz Memorial Tournament, which is the largest female hockey tournament in Western Canada.

"I'm so proud, our team has come a long way since the beginning of the year and we played this tournament for Mandi, it would have been real nice if we could have pulled off the win for her, but to come this far, so proud of the girls," said Notre Dame goalie Kaitlyn Ross after the final.
Ross made 42 saves during a back-and-forth championship game on Sunday afternoon.

The score was tied 1-1 through two periods as the Hounds stuck with the Stars, who are undefeated in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League this season. 

Stars forward Makena Kushniruk broke the tie early in the third period and Saskatoon added an empty net goal late to seal the win, but it wasn't without some close chances for the Hounds.

"It's such a great experience and just knowing that I had my team behind me and we're all working together and for each other was just a great experience," said Kushniruk on the win.

"We did really good, playing against Regina [in the semifinal on Saturday] was tough, but we made it through to here and we're taking it home."
Despite entering the tournament with a 2-7-2 record this season in the SFMAAAHL, the Hounds strung together 4-1-1 record over four days this weekend.

Notre Dame beat Prince Albert 5-4 in the semifinal to advance into Sunday's final and they gave the Stars everything that they could handle.
"It was a huge battle for the girls, we definitely played well, we stayed in [the game] the whole time and we fought hard right until the last minute," said Ross.

Ross was a big reason that the Hounds were able to stay in the game, especially during the second period when she was peppered with shots during a 5-on-3 that lasted almost two full minutes for the Stars.

Ross said she stayed locked in throughout the game to give her team a chance, "I felt really good throughout the whole game, I could see every shot and was tracking it well," she said.
 
After building confidence over the weekend, the Hounds will now look to carry that back into league play.

"This is a huge momentum boost because we weren't doing so well, getting to the final of this tournament is going to boost us along and hopefully get a few wins before the break and then come back and get a few more," said Ross.

"We never thought it would be this close, but we've come such a long way this whole tournament."

The Hounds return to the ice this weekend to face the Weyburn Gold Wings in a home-and-home to end the pre-Christmas schedule.
 
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Athol Murray College of Notre Dame ·

P.O. Box 100 Wilcox · SK, Canada S0G 5E0
Phone: 306-732-2080 · Fax: 306-732-4408 (Confidential) · Email: info@notredame.ca