By Nathan Kanter

AA Sharks season comes to an end in semis

Mar 23, 2017 | 12:00 PM

The series was a bit of a mismatch on paper but the AA Sharks made it as close as they could, unfortunately falling just short agaisnt the top-ranked Saskatoon Chargers in the league semifinals.

Saskatoon had lost just two regulation games all season long, while the Sharks posted a regular season record of just below .500, at .9-11-4.

Yet Battlefords, who are playing in their inaugural season, took home one of the best-of-2 series thanks to a 7-5 win.

“As can be expected in a semifinal game, it was a tight, see-saw, back and forth battle that saw the game tied four times in the first two periods,” Sharks head coach Jim Puffalt said in an email statement. “The Sharks [came] out in the third with three unanswered goals to take the victory and their first win against the Chargers.”

Kaitlyn Korpach had arguably the game of the year for Battleford, scoring her second, third, and fourth goals of the game in the third period to get her team the win. Misty Bird also contibuted two goals, while Sydney Geering had three assists.

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The Sharks outshot Saskatoon 28-23 in the game as well.

Because of the 7-5 win, the Sharks held a two-goal advantage in the series, which is won by overall goals in the two games.

But with the Chargers’ season on the line, they stormed out to a 6-2 win on Saturday to take the series 11 goals to nine, and end the Sharks season.

“We couldn’t be prouder of [our] athletes,” Puffalt said. “[They] took a brand new team and developed AA Sharks brand of hockey of always giving everything they had, never quitting, beating every team in the league at least once, and took a team that only had two [regulation] losses in their entire season to the brink of elimination.”

Korpach had another goal on Saturday and is first in playoff goals with six.

The Chargers are now awaiting the winner between the Saskatoon Legends and West Central Wheat Kings.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

@NathanKanter11