2015 Esso Cup

RECORD-SETTING NIGHT FROM KINGSLEY KEEPS SUDBURY UNDEFEATED

WENDY GRAVES

RED DEER, Alta. – Welcome to the Esso Cup record book, Melisa Kingsley (Sudbury, Ont.)!

One day after the Sudbury Lady Wolves set the record for most shots in a game, with 68, Kingsley went solo in setting another mark. Her natural hat trick scored over a 6:06 span of the second was the fastest three goals by a player in the event’s history. It broke the previous mark by more than three minutes.

And just for good measure she added two assists, as Sudbury rolled to another easy win, this time 7-2 over the Red Deer Chiefs. The Lady Wolves are now the only team with three wins and sit alone atop the leaderboard.

Karli Shell (Sudbury, Ont.) added two goals and two assists for her third multi-point game in as many nights. Kailey Lapensee (Sudbury, Ont.) and Tayler Murphy (Sudbury, Ont.) also scored for the Lady Wolves. Taylor McGaughey (Sudbury, Ont.) added two assists.

Danika Ranger (North Bay, Ont.) made 23 saves for her second win of the week.

Maddison Toppe (Red Deer, Alta.) and Mairead Bast (Red Deer, Alta.) scored for the Chiefs.

Bailey Knapp (Olds, Alta.) and Sarah Murray (Calgary, Alta.) both spent time in the Red Deer net, combining to make 32 saves.

Tuesday night began as a match-up between the event’s two unbeaten teams. It took just over five minutes for the Lady Wolves to show they wanted to be the last.

Lapensee’s wrist shot glove side just 4:09 in got the ball rolling. Just 1:14 later Shell won a goal-mouth scramble to make it 2-0.

Toppe responded quickly for the Chiefs, finishing the centering pass from Kirsten Baumgardt (Innisfail, Alta.), but Murphy responded a minute and a half later, putting the puck off a defender’s body and into the net and chasing Knapp from the net after only 8:59 had been played.

Sudbury outshot Red Deer 19-4 in the first period, with Shell deflecting in her second of the game before the teams headed for the dressing room.

It was then the Kingsley show in the second – a backhand over a down-and-out Murray; a rebound at the side of the net; and a rebound off the draw put her team up by six.

The Chiefs – on a Bast wrist shot – were able to get one back on a two-man advantage with a little more than six minutes to play.

The Lady Wolves next face Central Plains on Wednesday afternoon (3:30 p.m. MT). The Chiefs take on the Saskatoon Stars in the evening (7 p.m. MT).