In a championship game an Okotoks resident rose to the occasion with a rising tipped deflection to net a series-winning goal past a seemingly unbeatable goaltender.
Okotokian Rae Ann Borbely tallied the lone marker in the Rocky Mountain AAA Raiders’ 1-0 triumph in the championship clinching Game 2 of the best-out-of three series over the Grande Prairie Storm in the Alberta Major Bantam Female Hockey League (AMBFHL) finals, March 24 at the Bob Snodgrass Arena in High River.
Borbely broke the 0-0 deadlock 12:20 into the second period on a rare powerplay for the Raiders, an Okotoks Oilers Athletic Association team based out of Cochrane.
“Jane (Jacobs) just shot it and it deflected off my stick and into the back of the net,” Borbely said of the biggest goal of her life. “I couldn’t even believe I scored, I thought ‘oh no now I’ve got to go behind the net and get the puck again.’”
The Raiders, who went a perfect 6-0 in the postseason, carried the play over a dogged Grande Prairie team equipped with an excellent puck stopper. Storm netminder Jolene Debruyn made 34 saves and kept the game within reach for her teammates.
Raider Sidney Merkel said it was frustrating at times seeing Debruyn turn away shot after shot from the unrelenting Rocky Mountain offence.
“We were just nervous that we weren’t going to score on her, she’s an awesome goalie,” said Merkel, a student at John Paul II Collegiate in Okotoks.
Raiders captain Malia Schneider knew the persistence would eventually pay off. Schneider, a Millarville resident, said the Raiders took confidence from their two high-scoring wins over the Storm in the regular season.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge and we had to get lots of shots and that our biggest challenge was going to be number 2 their captain,” said Schneider of Storm forward Corbin Welsh. “We knew if we just took time and space away from her we’d be good.”
The Raiders also had an ace up their sleeve with former Grande Prairie players Nicolette Seper and Madison Nesem now toiling for Rocky Mountain,
“They know some of the girls there and apparently they hate playing our team,” said Raider Erika Iglesias. “It’s because we’re so fast, we just jump on them.”
Iglesias is one of three foothills products, along with Schneider and Amanda McLeod, on the Raiders who won the gold medal in February’s Alberta Winter Games for the Zone 2 team. The Okotoks resident said her second title in as many months just might be more special.
“It’s amazing, one of the best feelings ever,” Iglesias said. “I think with this one the feeling is better because it’s the team you’ve been playing with all year.”
McLeod, a tenacious winger with great puck pursuit, said it was rewarding to realize the plans the team put forth before the season began.
“It feels great, it was a goal we set out to at the beginning of the year and it’s finally been accomplished,” said McLeod, an Okotoks Junior High student. “We knew that if we played Raider hockey, as we call it, that we’d come out on top.”
Rocky Mountain’s steady goaltending didn’t hurt either. Raiders netminder Kirsten Chamberlin more than held her own between the pipes in the postseason notching three consecutive shutouts, including a pair of pitch perfect 20-save performances in the two-game final series with Grande Prairie.
