Halle Oswald made 35 saves as the Pembina Valley Hawks won their first game of the 2017 Esso Cup 2-1 over the West representative, Prince Albert Bears.

"I'm proud of how I played. I came up with some big saves at crucial times and that's what a goalie needs to do for their team," reflected Oswald. "They (her team) played well in front of me, so I have to do the same for them."

This was the Hawks first meaningful game since March 19th when they captured the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League championship and it seemed to take a few moments for Pembina Valley to find it's groove again. 

"We haven't had a crowd like this all year long. There was a little bit of nerves and a little bit of we haven't played for a while," said Hawks alternate captain Katelyn Heppner. "It took us a little while to get our legs underneath us."

Hannah Petrie, who was the overtime hero back in March, kept her scoring touch going when she scored the games first goal. She was left with some time in the slot and put it over the shoulder of Bears' goaltender Ryan Fontaine. Brooklyn Platt and Makenzie McCallum drew the assists on the Hawks first tally. 

The Bears would silence the crowd not even three minutes into the middle frame when Kate Ball put the puck in the back of the net. Prince Albert was able to bring the puck in front of the Hawks goal and draw even with plenty of time left. 

Not even two minutes later alternate captain Sage McElroy-Scott was driving the puck down the ice and chipped it up to Toni Conrad who busted in on a two-on-one with Alyssa Alderson and made no mistake rifling the puck top glove to give Pembina Valley the lead once again. 

"Sage (McElroy-Scott) had it along the boards and had a girl pressuring her from the side, pinching her off and had another girl in front of her. So, I was just calling for a chip. She told me on the bench that she never even saw me, so good thing I was calling. I actually thought it could be offside, but she got it to me just in time," said Conrad. "I had Alyssa Alderson coming in on the right and had one defence in between us. I was thinking of passing, but then I looked at the goalie and saw the top right corner open and I just put it there."

In the other games during the day the Harfangs Du Triolet dumped the Durham West Lightning 4-1 and the St. Albert Slash shutout the Mid Isle Wildcats 6-0. 

Meanwhile, up next for the Hawks is a 7:00 meeting with the Slash at the Huron Window Arena.

"I think the same thing. We need to be better with getting pucks to the net. That's crucial that they out shot us today, but I think again we go back to the nerves," said Hawks coach Dana Bell. "If we stick to the game plan and play like we did all year, I don't think there will be any issues."