Makenzie McCallum recorded a hat trick in the opening period as the Pembina Valley Hawks won their final preliminary round game at the 2017 Esso Cup National Female "AAA" Midget Hockey Championship 6-1 over the Atlantic representative Mid-Isle Wildcats.

"It's amazing. I was so happy to just score two of them, not three," said McCallum. "My teammates really had my back there. (Brooklyn) Platt won the face off and hit me with a pass. I used my wheels and got the goal and I was happy with it."

Pembina Valley would tally five times in the opening period.

McCallum came into the offensive zone and placed a perfect shot over the shoulder of the Wildcats goaltender Maggie Johnston to put the host team up 1-0. Before the period was halfway over the Hawks would tally two more times. Kenzie Heide's shot from the top of the circle went off the post and in and just :23 seconds later McCallum would get the puck after Brooklyn Platt won the draw in the defensive zone, use her speed to bust between the Wildcat defence and pick top blocker for her second goal of the game. Platt, who already had an assist in the game was able to find the back of the net for her second point of the evening after Petrie made a cross-ice feed to her on the other side of the net. Then only :11 seconds into Cora Fijala's interference penalty McCallum completed the hat trick.

"We were really making our passes on the tape, working really hard, and our forecheck was really good," said Hawks forward Hannah Desrochers when asked about the first period. 

Taylor Gillis scored to break Hawks' goaltender Halle Oswald's shutout bid 11:26 into the middle period. 

Alyssa Alderson scored her first of the tournament to make it 5-1. Katelyn Heppner and Toni Conrad drew the helpers on the Hawks goal. 

Oswald made 26 saves in the win, while Johnston turned away 31 of the 37 shots the Hawks fired her way. 

Pembina Valley was happy to get this win, after a tough 1-0 loss last night against the Harfangs Du Triolet.

"I feel like this is a very important win for us. It was really nice for it to be a high scoring game and it will get us pumped up for the semifinals tomorrow," said Hawks defence Niomi Pantel.

McCullum led the way for the Hawks with four goals and six points in five games during the preliminary round, and Oswald played all five games stopping 161 of the 167 shots she faced, which gave her a GAA of 1.21 and Save % of .964.

In other games around the Esso Cup, the Pacific representative St. Albert Slash (5-0) dumped the Ontario representative Durham West Lightning (2-3) 7-3 and team West, the Prince Albert Bears (2-3) edged the Quebec reps the Harfang Du Triolet (3-2) 3-2.

With the win, the Hawks have qualified for the semifinals Friday. Pembina Valley will square off with the Harfangs once again in the 7:00 p.m. game and the St. Albert Slash will play the Durham West Lighting in the other semifinal at 3:30 p.m.