By S Ferguson
The Oscars weren’t the only awards handed out in California last night. The winner of the Secret Dream Gap Tour PWHPA Championship Finals was declared in the same state. The nominees, so to speak, were Team Harvey’s, who went in as the favourites having finished at the top of the standings, and Team Scotiabank, who has finished third. This was a one game winner takes it all final and full disclosure, I got my son Harvey’s for lunch today but still feel I can be impartial in my assessment of the game.
This was a wild one with six goals scored in the first 25 minutes of action. Kelly Pannek opened the scoring with 2 goals before Jamie Lee Rattray pulled one back.
Then Alex Carpenter wired one top shelf for Scotiabank before Harvey’s charged back to make it 3-3 by the half way point in the game.
That’s when Emily Clark broke it open with a slick breakaway move after a great long pass from Jessie Eldridge. Edge to Harvey’s 4-3 and a hat trick for Clark.
But with 8 seconds left in the period Blayre Turnbull pulled one back which meant it was 4-4 heading into the third.
No scoring until the last minute of the third period either when the big line for Harvey’s came through again with Jessie Eldridge scoring the championship winning goal just when it looked like the game would go to overtime.
I will definitely be watching for what happens next with the PWHPA, and if there’s another Toronto showcase I plan to be out there in the stands.