The Weyburn Penta Gold Wings remain sixth in the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey league, holding on to the position after earning wins against Battleford and Regina in the last week. They will continue to hold this position for the next week, as the league goes idle so that the players can dedicate their time to high school semester exams.

"We got off to a very good start at both games, which is always key," said head coach Jim Onstad. "I thought that our goaltending made some really good saves in the first two periods and our players started to tire them out by the third period and dominated the game."

The Gold Wings took advantage of several power plays and a penalty shot to claim a victory over Battleford on Jan. 19. The first two periods were a battle of skills, with a score of 2-1 for the Gold Wings at the end of the second period. Marla Ives scored both of the goals for the Gold Wings, one in the first period from assists by Rianne Wight and Paige Wheeler and the other goal in the second period during a power play, assisted by Nicole Hollingshead.

It would be the third period when the Gold Wings really dominated the play on the ice. A power play goal by Stefany Rankin from an assist by Hollingshead started the third period. Halfway into the period a penalty earned by the Battleford team gave Amy Kelbaugh an unassisted penalty shot to double the Gold Wing score to 4-1.

Shortly after this, Hollingshead earned a power play goal off an assist by Kalin Dickson. Two minutes later, an unassisted goal by Wheeler gave the Gold Wings the 6-1 win over Battleford.

"We had a huge great start against Battleford, with our power players working really well and the whole game getting really physical," said Ives. "Which was nice, since it meant we could redeem ourselves over previous losses to the Battleford team."

The Penta Gold Wings knocked back the Rebels in a 6-1 win on Jan. 15. The Gold Wings had a 2-1 lead after the first period, with goals secured by Wheeler at the top of the period off an assist by Wight and a second goal earned by Kristine Jellicoe off assists by Wight and Wheeler.

The second period was quite defensive for both sides, with the Gold Wings only able to score one goal by the Rebel goaltender, despite 12 shots on the net. This goal was earned by Bethany Nickel, unassisted.

It was the third period where the Gold Wings dominated the game, securing three goals over the Regina Rebels to claim the win. Vanessa Fusick started the scoring of this period, taking a goal off an assist by Paige Van De Sype. Later in the game, Wight took advantage of a Gold Wing power play to score a goal off an assist by Wheeler.

Finally, in the last seconds of the third period, the final goal for the Gold Wings was scored by Kelbaugh, who was assisted by Deirdra Ashworth and Rankin.

"In both games we came out wanting to win, so we were able to play harder for the win," said Ives. "We will continue to work hard at practices during this week off, because we want to come back in our next games playing really strong."

The next league game for the Penta Gold Wings will be Saturday, Feb. 2, when they host Saskatoon at the Weyburn Colosseum. The game starts at 8 p.m.