Pandas climb from “second rate to first place” in OT semifinal win

The Pandas will be the first to admit it. They didn’t play their best in their semifinal comeback win on March 2.

If they did, there wouldn’t have been a comeback.

“I wasn’t happy with our play and I wasn’t happy with our passing. I felt like we were chasing most of the game,” University of Alberta Pandas hockey head coach Howie Draper said.

When Draper’s previously all-star lineup showed up to Clare Drake to play the Mount Royal Cougars, just to give up on their top-ranked power play in favour of poor passing, everyone knew how the Pandas stayed in it.

Or, I guess, who kept the Pandas in it.

“Natalie Kieser got the first goal [in game two], and in the playoff hockey, that’s golden.”

Golden that she got a goal in every game of round.

Golden that she scored the overtime, series winning goal, in game three.

The only thing that would have raised Kieser’s performance is if her linemates, Pandas captain Izzy Lajoie and left-winger Payton Laumbach, took a point on the goals as well, instead of picking passes off the sticks of Abby Soyko and Madison Willan — two second line players.

Could we just put them on a line together and see what happens? Kind of seems like they already are.

Sure, there’s a secured spot at nationals regardless of the Canada West Championships, but bumping Jadynn Morden (9-11-20) up to play with Lajoie (4-8-12) and Laumbach (3-9-12) might put the fourth-year forwards on the scoreboard too before their season is up. At the very least, the Pandas will have one of, if not the most, dangerous lines in Canada West clocking 20-minutes of ice time, at the very least.

Even with Soyko “not playing her best” until game three, she still grinded it out to make plays for other players.

“She’s very vocal on the bench. I think she recognizes that she’s not playing her best right now, that she can get more pucks to the net. Everybody is in that stitch though. We can all be better,” Draper said.

“But Soyko’s just a professional. She’s talking on the bench, and she’s trying to get her teammates going. And that’s what you do when things aren’t necessarily going your way. Find a different way to contribute.”

At the time, Draper was commenting on her game one and two performance, which resulted in a less than expected two assists, but no goals.

Then all of a sudden, game three rolls around and Soyko clocks two goals — the Pandas’ only goals in regulation — to tie the game, send them to overtime, and take the assist on Kieser’s overtime winner.

“She’s on the second all-star team, and she’s there for a reason. She has found her stride, and she came up big, and this is exactly what we need from that caliber of players.”

“We need to have them stand up when it’s absolutely necessary,” Draper added.

But again, had Soyko and other players “stood up” earlier, it wouldn’t have been absolutely necessary.

“We don’t have a lot of time to change anything. I think we just want to get on the ice and make sure that we keep the intensity up as best as we can, and work on our passing and build some confidence,” Draper said.

They need to build some confidence in their power play too.

The Pandas went into the post-season with one of the best power plays in the conference, but went two for 11 on the man-advantage over three games.

The message is clear — “it’s got to improve.”

“We’re going to enjoy the moment for a bit, but we’ve got to get back into the fight.”

Three stars of the series