It was one final heartbreaking chapter in a year-long battle that prevented the Richmond Devils from potentially completing a dream season.
The Devils won their first-ever South Coast Women’s Hockey League regular season title and were looking for more hardware on their home ice at last weekend’s provincial championships at the Richmond Ice Centre.
They took care of business with a pair of wins in round-robin play over the Meadow Ridge (2-1) and TWU (3-2). That set the stage for Sunday morning’s semi-final tilt with South Fraser TNT. It marked the fifth time this season the Devils had faced the reigning provincial champs and each result was a one goal difference with South Fraser (2-1-1) holding a slight edge.
Sure enough, it was another colossal struggle against the evenly matched powerhouses. The difference proved be Chelsea Wilson’s goal with 7:02 remaining as TNT hung on for a 1-0 win. Richmond had its share of chances, including a power play in the final three minutes but couldn’t solve South Fraser goalie Jennifer Price.
The Devils were back on the ice a couple of hours later and skated to a convincing 6-3 victory over the Fraser Valley Jets in the bronze medal game. They finished the championships winning three of four games and doing just about everything right. Yet, they will have to wait another year to take another run at the club’s first-ever provincial title.
“I told the girls right after that game there was nothing bad to say. The whole weekend you played exactly the way we wanted you to. Pucks bounce your way and sometimes they don’t, ” said Devils head coach Tony Cheema.
“What a way to end it. (On the winning goal) no one knew where the puck was. It was a great example of the way we played against each other all game long. A goal like that makes sense. “We were looking for a lucky bounce like that too. It happens. What a game.”
Cheema admitted he was quietly hoping he would see the Kamloops Vibe in the semi-finals — a team his club enjoyed moderately better success against (1-2-1) in regular season play. The tournament’s No. 3 seed not only knocked off South Fraser in round-robin play but did it again in the championship game with a 1-0 victory.
It marked the third straight year South Fraser and Kamloops had squared off for the gold medal. That was another streak the Devils were hoping to end. Instead, they will savour their regular season championship and bronze medal.
Richmond could potentially have a dangerous one-two scoring punch with a healthy Alex Yallouz joining Lindsay Dipietro. The team captain missed the entire campaign with an injury. Dipietro was outstanding in her first season with Richmond, winning the league scoring title with 37 points in 20 games. She added eight more at the provincials, including a goal and three assists in the bronze medal win.
“I was thinking what kind of a difference Alex would have made this weekend,” added Cheema. “She would have provided an extra scoring touch, created a few more opportunities and bounces our way. At the end of the day we ended up with one trophy and can’t be too greedy. Next year it will be the provincials.”
The Devils will conclude the season by hosting a jamboree this weekend at the RIC. The three-day event features South Coast teams Richmond, Surrey Mavericks, South Fraser and Meadow Ridge taking on Kelowna and Grand Prairie. The Devils will play Kelowna on Friday (9:30 p.m.) and Grand Prairie Saturday (4 p.m.).
