The Sharks beat the Notre Dame Hounds 3-2 in OT yesterday to advance to the league finals (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

Making history

Aspaas OT winner sends Sharks to first ever league finals

Mar 19, 2025 | 3:25 PM

History was made Tuesday night at the Battlefords Arena as the Battlefords AAA Sharks punched their ticket to their first ever Sask. Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL) finals after Sharks forward and Rochester Institute of Technology commit, Anneka Aspaas sealed the deal in overtime to give the Sharks the win over the Notre Dame Hounds in the final game of the semi-final series.

Sharks Head Coach Nolan Horbach said that it was the focus on details that helped result in the win.

“One of those things we worked on all year was details and after seeing how we played in Game 2 and knowing what we could do, I think our goal was really to just kind of stay above them just kind spend as little as time as possible in our own end. I think we did a really good job of that and eventually we found a way to break through, get some goals and we had some really good goaltending,” he said.

Going into the game, the Sharks were coming off a big 6-2 win in Game 2 the night prior, after falling short 4-3 in Game 1.

In the first period, the Sharks opened up the scoring on the powerplay with a goal from Sarah McNabb to give the team an early 1-0 lead. The Hounds were able to answer back though with a goal of their own, coming from Carys Cross to tie the game 1-1 going into the second.

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For the second period, the Sharks were starting to circle, putting on tons of pressure in the offensive zone and getting quality shots, but thanks to Hounds netminder, Juliette Gagne-Delaunay, the Sharks still couldn’t break the tie. Then after a battle behind the Sharks net, Notre Dame found themselves right in the slot area with some room and were able to find the back of the net, coming from Sarah Johns to make it 2-1 heading into the third.

Coming out for the third, the Sharks continued with the constant pressure, finding good look after good look, eventually resulting in the game-tying goal, again coming from Sarah McNabb to make it 2-2. No one else was able to score throughout the rest of the period and the game went to overtime.

Then in overtime, at the 4:20 mark, Aspaas fired a shot from the top left circle that beat Gagne-Delaunay bar down, giving the Sharks the 3-2 win.

The Sharks will now go on to play the Saskatoon Stars in the league final. The Stars were the only team to beat the Sharks in regulation during the regular season and they did it three times. Horbach said that he expects a good matchup against them.

“They’re a really talented team, I think in a way they are pretty similar to us. We’ve had some close games with them, maybe one we didn’t play our best, but playoffs is a different time and it means if we want to be the best, you got to go head to head with them, so we are excited,” said Horbach

The first game of the finals is this Saturday, March 22 at the Battleford Arena with puck drop at 5 p.m.

Apart from the finals, three Sharks were also given league awards recently for their outstanding play throughout the season. Danika Dureau was presented with the Kelly Bechard Top Scorer award, Hayley Wickenheiser Most Valuable Player and was named to the First All-star team. Cypress Classen was awarded the Brittony Chartier Top Goaltender and also made the First All-star team. Then Savannah Mucha was named to the Second All-star team.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes