The Norman Wild of the Manitoba Female Midget AAA Hockey League had their closest game of the young season on the road in Hartney on Oct. 19, matching the Westman Wildcats goal-for-goal through the first 40 minutes before losing 5-4 when the Wildcats got the lone goal of the third period.

Thompson’s Kendra Hanson had two goals for the Wild, whose season record dropped to 0-3 with the loss in the first game of a three-game road trip that ended with back-to back losses for the Norman female midget squad, which is now 0-5. The other goals came from Brittney Folster and Norway House’s Nicole Poker, while Kimberly Kobar made 49 saves in the loss, finishing the game with a .907 save percentage.

Shots were 54-18 for the Wildcats in the game. Ashleigh Brykaliuk, Jossa Danis, Melissa Hunt, Jaycee Magwood and Megan Robertson were the goal-scorers for Westman, which is first in the MFMHL with a 4-1-1 record after six games. Both teams had three goals in the first period and one goal each in the middle frame as the Wild scored more in 60 minutes than they had in their first two games of the season, played on home ice in The Pas the previous weekend.

The rest of the road trip was not as competitive for the Wild, who dropped a 6-1 decision to Westman the following day, with Ashley Murphy the only Norman player to beat Wildcats goalie Amber Tillbury, who made 15 saves for the win.

In the Wild net, affiliated player Kerigan Dowhy of The Pas made 56 saves in the loss, giving up a pair of goals to Bykaliuk and singles to Samantha Dyck, Karissa Haney, Teagan Pringle and Kailyn Whaley.

The final game of the trip, against the Yellowhead Chiefs on Sunday in Shoal Lake, was a 6-0 shutout loss for the Wild, who got 45 saves from Kobar but couldn’t beat Chiefs netminder Kennedy Johnston, despite putting 35 pucks on net.

Tirra Lemoine, with a hat trick, Hannah Foulliard, with a pair, and Mackenzie Bortis, with one, had the goals for the Chiefs, 3-2 on the season, with all the wins at the expense of Norman.

The Wild opened up the season on Oct. 13 when they hosted the Chiefs in The Pas, dropping a 4-1 decision. Foulliard, Jalin Adams, Hayley Cathcart and Jalyn Elmes had the goals for Yellowhead in that contest, as the Chiefs outshot the Wild 49-16, with Kobar turning aside 45 of Yellowhead’s shots.

The following day, the teams played to a scoreless tie until the third period, when Lemoine got a hat trick for the Chiefs and Tashel Scantlebury added a single to double up the Wild, who got two goals from Folster.

Dowhy was in net for Norman that day, stopping 48 shots while Johnston turned aside 25 in Yellowhead’s net.

The Wild were 1-3 in a preseason tournament in Portage la Prairie Sept. 28-30, dropping their opener 3-1 to the MFML’s Central Plains Capitals on the first day, then being edged 3-2 by Swift Current in their first game on Sept. 29. Norman finished on top later that day, topping fellow MFMHL member the Winnipeg Ice 5-3 before finishing the tournament with a 3-1 loss to the Wildcats on Sept. 30.

The Wild are back on the ice next Saturday and Sunday at the Thompson Regional Community Centre, where they will take on the Pembina Valley Hawks at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The Hawks are currently second in league standings with a 3-0-1 record in four games. The Wild and the Ice are in the basement with identical 0-5 records.

In addition to Kendra Hanson, who was an affiliated player last year, the Wild have three other players from Thompson, including Kendra’s sister Brianne Hanson, Teya Templeton and Madison Murray