Regina Rebels win gold at Esso Cup national women’s U18 championship

The Regina Rebels are Esso Cup champions for the first time in program history.

The Rebels won the national women’s under-18 hockey championship on Saturday in Vernon, B.C. with a 2-1 win over Ontario’s North York Storm in the gold medal game.

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After a scoreless first period, Rebels forward Berlin Lolacher opened the scoring in the second period — tying a tournament record with her 10th goal— putting Regina on top 1-0.

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Moments later, Stryker Zablocki added to Regina’s lead as she scored her eighth of the tournament to make it 2-0 Rebels.

After being outshot 16-10 in the first period, the Rebels outshot North York 22-6 in a dominant second period.

In the third, the Storm got on the board as Lily Paisley scored a powerplay goal to cut the lead to 2-1.

From there, the Rebels held on to the lead as goalie Hannah Tresek making 26 saves in the victory. North York’s Jamie Sanford made 47 saves in the loss. Both goaltenders were named top players for their team in the game.

The gold medal by Regina is their first at the tournament since it began in 2009. Last year, the Rebels won their first medal at the event as they finished in third place to claim bronze. Twelve players from last year’s roster were on Regina’s squad again this year, including Lolacher and Zablocki, who led the tournament in scoring with 11 points each. North York’s Sydney Bowness also had 11 points in the tournament as she earned an assist on the Storm’s lone goal on Saturday.

In seven games at the tournament, the 16-year-old Lolacher scored 10 goals and added one assist while Zablocki, 17, had eight goals and three assists. Prior to the gold medal game, Lolacher was named the tournament’s top forward while Zablocki was named MVP.

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After three wins and two overtime losses in the round robin, the Rebels advanced to Saturday’s final after beating the host Thompson-Okanagan Lakers 4-1 in the semifinal.

North York — which beat Regina 7-6 in overtime in the opening game of the tournament — got by the Edmonton Jr. Oilers 4-1 in the other semifinal.

Dating back to the regular season, the Rebels went 32 consecutive games without a regulation loss. After being defeated 4-3 by the Saskatoon Stars on Nov. 19, Regina finished the season with 20 straight wins giving them 27 victories and just three losses on the year, which earned them top spot in the Saskatchewan Female AAA U18 Hockey League. Regina’s only other two regulation losses this season came in their second and third games of the year also against Saskatoon.

In the playoffs, the Rebels beat the Battlefords Stars in two straight games in the best-of-three semifinal before defeating the Notre Dame Hounds 2-0 in the league final.

Regina then defeated the Winnipeg Ice 2-0 in the best-of-three west regional qualifier to advance to the Esso Cup, along with four other teams from across the country.

tshire@postmedia.com

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