Ponoka’s longstanding ladies’ hockey team Silverados organized and hosted an eight-team hockey tournament over the weekend and despite a very good start, ended up just having lots of fun.
There were three teams from Edmonton in addition to visitors from Devon, Hinton, Rimbey and Paradise Valley participating in the tournament.
Silverados played their first game against Boomerangs of Edmonton and came out with a spectacular 8-0 win on Saturday morning, Oct. 3.
The team’s most prolific scorer Matty DeVries put three numbers on the scoreboard followed by Amber Broker with two and Denise Jacobsen, Wendy Griffin and Deanna Waknuk adding one each to the tally.
Silverados’ goalie, Naomi Bennett came out of retirement for the tournament and “she did great in her first game even though she hasn’t played for four years,” according to Melodie Woods, lead organizer of the tournament and a Silverados player.
Their second game on Saturday afternoon was a different story, though. Rimbey pounded the Silverados net with shot after shot and they ended up winning the game 9-0.
“Rimbey is a respected rival of Ponoka’s, whom we play often through the season and this time they dominated us,” Woods said.
After round robin, Silverados faced off Edmonton’s Ice Nomads in the C Final of the tournament.
The first period ended with the 2-1 lead for the Nomads with the only Silverado goal of the first period having been scored unassisted by Amber Broker. In the second, Silverados balanced the numbers by scoring twice against the single point of the Nomads. Sandra Simpson undersigned one assisted by Sharon Klinger and the second of the period came from Wendy Griffin assisted by Deanna Waknuk and Amber Broker.
In the third, Nomads took the lead again by two points but the hosts caught up with Deanna Waknuk with assist from Sharon Klinger and Matty DeVries, who also scored the last goal unassisted.
The 5-5 tie took the game to shootout, which the Silverados lost.
Rimbey turned out to be the winner of the A Final, with Devon winning the B title, Ice Nomads capturing the C final and Edmonton Hurricanes winning the D title.
“Our ladies team has been playing hockey for over 20 years. Some of the original members are still playing and now they have daughters that play on the same team,” said Woods.
She thanked all sponsors and volunteers for supporting Silverados’ 14th annual season opener tournament.