Caps finish weekend 3-0 with win over Brandon
Two tired and short staffed teams met in Portage on Monday morning in a rescheduled MFMHL contest when the Caps defeated the Brandon WheatKings 4-0. The Caps playing their 3rd game in 3 days outplayed a Brandon squad with a limited bench who were playing their second game in less than 20 hours. The Caps were without 5 regulars including leading scorer Natasha Kostenko plus Maggie Girard and Taylor McVannel who are tied for 3rd in team scoring. 
   Shaye Nelissen, Nikki Bell, Stephanie Fehr and Callan Harland scored for the Caps who controlled the entire game outshooting Brandon 58-5. Jessica Hewko who has been solid in the net for the Caps in her rookie season picked up an easy shutout while Randi Stewart was very good in the Brandon net to keep the score close. Brandon was also without several key players.
    Picking up assists for the Caps was Courtney Nichol with 2 while singles went Harland, Courtlyn Oswald, Alyson Vercaigne, Nelissen and Jillene Rodgers. The Caps will now practice on Wednesday and hope to start getting some of their injured players back. They have one MFMHL league game left with Yellowhead who they now lead by 5 points in the race for second place.
   The win pushes the Caps MFMHL record to 12-5-2 while giving them an overall season record of 19-16-2.
  
Short Staffed Caps Earn Second Victory of Weekend
   The Caps travelled to Minnedosa on Saturday for a MFMHL contest with only 13 skaters due to injuries and players away and finished with only 12 as one of their players could not finish due to illness.
  For the second game in a row a Bantam AP played solid for the Caps as Autumn Garnham took a regular shift on forward not her primary position and had assists on both Caps goals in their 2-1 win over the Chiefs.
    With the Chiefs blanketing the Caps leading point getters, Natasha Kostenko and Shaye Nelissen, the Caps got scoring from Alyson Vercaigne and Callan Harland. The two rookies have really elevated their play over the past month providing the Caps with good secondary scoring especially over the weekend as the Caps are missing their # 3 point getters in Maggie Girard and Taylor McVannel due to injuries. Vercaigne scored on a nice shot from the slot to the top corner as she took a perfect pass from Garnham who had received a cycle pass down low from Jennifer Bell. This tied the score at 1-1 through 2 periods of play as the teams had played a scoreless first period.
   In the 3rd period the Caps controlled most of the play and eventually found the back of the net on a shot from Callan Harland who scored from the slot after some good cycling by the Caps down low. Assists on the play went to Vercaigne and Garnham.
  Jacey Schettler picked up the win in net for the Caps stopping 25 of 26 shots fired her way and was very solid throughout the game but especially in the first period with the Caps getting off to a slow start and being outshot 13-8. The Caps gained momentum in the 2nd period outshooting the Chiefs 16-10 however Schettler had to make several good saves especially on 2 penalty kills. In the 3rd period the Caps played a very solid two way game limiting the Chiefs to 3 shots while directing 11 at the Yellowhead net for a game total of 35.
  The Caps coaching staff was pleased with how the Caps played through being short staffed and continued to get better as the game wore on. The win moved the Caps 3 points ahead of Yellowhead for second in the MFMHL with an 11-5-2 record and a season record of 18-16-2.

Vercaigne - goal and assist vs. Yellowhead. Harland scores game winner.
Caps defeat Norman 6-0 in MFMHL play
The Caps hosted Norman in Gladstone on Saturday in the last regular season game between the 2 teams with the Caps coming away with a 6-0 win. The Caps were led offensively by leading scorer Natasha Kostenko who had 3 goals and an assist while Jessia Hewko stopped all 15 shots fired her way to earn her second shutout of the year.
The Caps also got goals from Callan Harland, Shaye Nelissen and Nikki Bell. Nelissen also picked up an assist for a 2 point game while Courtney Nichol and Stephanie Fehr both added 2 helpers. Single assists went to Jordan Robertson, Lindsay Blight, Alyson Vercaigne and Bantam AP Kailee Rutherford playing in her first game with the Caps.
With the win the Caps improved their MFMHL record to 10-5-2 with an overall record of 17-16-2. The Caps currently sit in second place in the MFMHL.

Kostenko - 3 goals & assist. Nelissen goal and assist with Fehr and Nichol each collecting 2 assists vs. Norman
CAPS LOSE 5-3 TO LEAGUE LEADING PEMBINA VALLEY
The Caps lost another tough game to the top team in the MFMHL when they travelled to Rosenort and lost 5-3 with the 5th goal being scored into an empty net. It was a back and forth contest that saw the Hawks outshoot the Caps slightly by a 34-30 margin. The Caps held a 2-1 advantage after the first period on a pair of goals by rookie Callan Harland moving her to 11 for the year. The first was a great 3 way passing play that saw Harland score on a nice shot from the slot after receiving a pass from Alyson Vercaigne with Courtney Nichol picking up an assist as well. Harland's 2nd goal of the period came when Shaye Nelissen let go a hard slap shot from the point that was redirected by Vercaigne to Harland for the tap in.
The 2nd period ended with the teams deadlocked at 3-3. Stephanie Fehr scored another pretty goal from the slot for the Caps when she pounced on the puck and put it up over the PV goalies shoulder. Picking up assists on the play were Natasha Kostenko and Jillene Rodgers.
The 3rd period was another exciting period with the Caps having several chances to go ahead but were unable to take advantage of their opportunities. With 4 minutes remaining the Hawks jumped on a lose puck in neutral ice that led to a breakway for the go ahead goal. The Caps pulled their goalie, Jacey Schettler who was outstanding in the net for the Caps matching Shanley Peters of PV save for save. The Caps had several good scoring chances off of 2-3 faceoffs in the Hawks zone but were unable to find the equalizer and with 9 seconds remaining and the Caps pressing the puck bounced out of the zone and was put into the empty net to secure the Pembina Valley win.
The Caps were once again short staffed missing forwards Taylor McVannel and Maggie Girard both out with injuries but expected to be back soon.

Rookies Callan Harland (2 Goals) and Alyson Vercaigne (2 Assists) had good night vs. First Place Pembina Valley

CAPS EARN TOUGH 1-0 Road WIN
The Caps travelled to Hamiota to play Yellowhead in a rescheduled MFMHL game on Sunday Feb. 7th and came away with a tough 1-0 victory over their hosts.
   Jacey Schettler played a solid game in net for the Caps to earn the shutout stopping all 20 shots fired her way. The Game was scoreless until the 3rd period when Maggie Girard deflected a shot from linemate Courtney Nichol who had been set up in the slot after receiving a pass from Callan Harland. The Caps had several good scoring chances throughout the game however could only manage one goal on their 28 shots. Both teams did a good job on limiting the number of shots on net by blocking or deflecting potential scoring chances from reaching the net.
   The Caps were without leading scorer Natasha Kostenko (illness), D- Jenna Cyrenne (injury) and goalie Jessica Hewko (injury). The win moves the Caps into second place in the league with 5 games remaining.

Girard scores game winner in 1-0 win vs. Yellowhead with Nichol and Harland picking up assists.