The Penta Gold Wings hosted a Showcase Tournament for the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League over the weekend, with the event going really well for the host team. "I felt that the tournament went without a hitch, due to all the volunteers who showed up on time to help with the event," said head coach for the Gold Wings, Len Williams. "It was an interesting tournament, and gave us a chance to see the other teams."

Facing off against the Saskatoon Comets for their first game, the Penta Gold Wings dominated the game with a 6-3 win, with most of their goals scored in the first period. Marla Ives gave the Gold Wings their first goal of the game, with an assist off Vanessa Fusick, and the Comets replied to tie the game. However that tie was short-lived as Fusick came back to score off the Comets with an assist from Ives, then in the last three minutes of the period three more goals were scored.

Nicole Hollingshead scored, with an assist from Erica Williams, then Amy Kelbaugh scored another with an assist by Shelby Saylor, and the final goal of the period came from Stefany Rankin, unassisted. With a score of 5-1, the Gold Wings left the first period in the lead. The second period was more in favour of the Comets, as they scored two goals, one after another, shortly before the 10-minute mark. There were no goals for the Gold Wings in the second period, but they did earn an early goal in the third period, scored by Kelbaugh off an assist by Hollingshead.

"We got some really good goal-tending from Jenna Closson," said Williams. "There was also a lot of enthusiasm from the whole team, they really played with a lot of heart. We were able to see what we need to improve on and we will be working on fundamentals in practices, but we are really looking forward to being a competitive team in the regular season."

In other game action on Saturday, Swift Current dominated Regina for a 9-1 win, Notre Dame won a close 4-3 game over Battleford, and Melville took a 4-1 win over Prince Albert. Then in game action on Sunday, Saskatoon delivered a 5-2 win over Regina, Prince Albert took a 5-3 win from Battleford and Melville earned a 2-1 win from Notre Dame.

Weyburn played the last game of the day, facing off against the Swift Current team, who were undefeated in exhibition game play. The Gold Wings played a hard-hitting close game against the Swift Current Wildcats, but the Wildcats took a 4-2 win.

The Gold Wings earned the first goal of the game, with Kelbaugh taking the goal off an assist by Kristine Jellicoe. Swift Current came back with a goal of their own, with the first period ending with a tie.

"It felt really good to help earn one of the goals of the game," said Jellicoe. "Everyone tried really hard to earn the win from Swift Current."

Swift Current dominated the second period, earning two goals while the Gold Wings were unable to secure any goals of their own. There was an early goal by Paige Wheeler, with an assist by Fusick, to try to take the lead from Swift Current, however the Wildcats came back with a goal of their own in the last seconds of the third period to secure the win.

"We played so hard and had so much hustle, it was great to secure a win against Saskatoon," said Ashley Kirkpatrick. "I really felt that the score of our game against Swift Current really didn't reflect the play, we deserved to win that game as well."

"The whole team was determined to do our best," said Kourtney McCutcheon. "That teamwork really showed, as it took one person to really influence the whole team to work better together."

In their first exhibition game of the season, against the Notre Dame Hounds on Sept. 18, the Penta Gold Wings suffered a loss of 7-3 to the Hounds. Notre Dame took an early lead off the Gold Wings, scoring two goals in the first period off goalie Jenna Closson.

Notre Dame extended their lead early in the second period with a third goal off Closson, with the Gold Wings fighting back by earning two goals of their own to make the score 3-2. Rianne Wight scored the first goal for the Gold Wings, off an assist by Kourtney McCutcheon, and the second goal was taken by Erica Williams with an assist by Wight.

In the last seconds of the second period, a goal by Sarah Puryk off an assist by Vanessa Fusick tied the score. However the Hounds pounded Weyburn back in the third period, scoring four goals off goalie Jami Cudmore to claim the win.

The Gold Wings met with the Hounds again for a follow-up exhibition game on home ice on Sept. 18, where the Hounds dominated again for a Gold Wing loss of 9-1. Once again, Notre Dame took an early lead off, scoring four goals in the first period

Keeping the score one-sided, Notre Dame took three more goals in the second period before the lone Gold Wing goal was scored by Stefany Rankin, unassisted. In the third period, the Hounds claimed two more goals to secure the win.

"We played so much better in the showcase tournament than how we did when facing Notre Dame," said Kalin Dickson. "After those first two games, we knew we had a lot more work to do, since we suffered a lot of penalties and didn't know our plays really well."

Up next for the Gold Wings will be their regular season, with their first game up against Melville on Thursday, Oct. 11, in an away game. Their season home opener will be Saturday, Oct. 20, when the Gold Wings play against Battleford, the puck drops at 8 p.m. in the Weyburn Colosseum.