Devils, Moose open provincial tournament with wins

The Richmond Devils earned a hard-fought upset victory Friday afternoon in the first game of the EKanite Consulting SCWHL/Provincial Championship Tournament at the Hope and District Arena.

The Devils, the sixth-seed at the six-team tournament, surprised the second-seed Fraser Valley Jets 2-0 in a Pool B game. Nicole Lim in the second period and Emily Costales in the third were the Richmond goal scorers. Richmond goalie Jenna Ehling made 26 saves, including 10 in the third period, for the shutout.

Stacey Wilson stopped 20 of 22 shots in the Fraser Valley net.

The Jets will need to avoid a second loss against the third-seed North Shore Rebels in their second game of the day Friday evening at 6:15 p.m. Richmond will face-off against the Rebels Saturday morning at 11:15 a.m.

In the first game of the Pool A round robin, the regular season-champion Meadow Ridge Moose upended the fifth-seed Kamloops Vibe 3-2.

Whitney Dove paced the Moose with two powerplay goals and one assist. Emily Duchak netted the third Meadow Ridge goal.

Natalie Knight scored the game’s first goal, giving Kamloops a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the second period. Knight added her second goal of the game with just one second left to play.

Meadow Ridge will look to clinch first place in Pool A against the South Fraser TNT Friday evening at 8:30 p.m.

The TNT will face-off against Kamloops Saturday morning at 9 am.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to Saturday evening’s semi-final games.

A third-place game will be played Sunday at 10 a.m. followed by the championship game at 12:15 p.m.