Tri-Port Midget Wild forward Mackenzie Murgatroyd lived up to her last name and then some on Saturday afternoon, scoring a natural hat trick against the Nanaimo Clippers while leading her team to victory at the Doug Bondue Arena in Port Alice.
The Wild faced off against the Clippers for the second time this season (the Wild won their last encounter 1-0), and this game was another tough, back-and-forth battle between the two teams.
The Wild’s defensive core, which consists of Madison Van Will, Mandy Foldy and Chloe Noel, put in a ton of minutes on the ice shutting down the Clipper’s passing for long stretches of time, causing them to not get any shots on net and turn over the puck.
The Wild’s offence then started to take over and dominate.
Captain Kerrigan Sharpe unleashed a big point shot on net and Murgatroyd jumped on the rebound, banging the puck past the Clipper’s talented goalie Abbie Stewart to open the scoring with 41 seconds left on the clock.
In the second period, Van Will, Foldy and Noel continued to stop the Clippers from reaching their net, while Stewart made a bunch of great saves to keep her team in the game.
Murgatroyd struck again in the third, this time breaking in on a two-on-one, faking the pass over and firing a quick wrist shot blocker side past Stewart, giving the Wild a big two-goal lead.
She wasn’t done scoring goals just yet, though.
Murgatroyd completed the natural hat trick by tipping in the puck from the side of the net with 1:25 left in the period, securing the Wild a hard-fought 3-0 win.
After the game, Murgatroyd said that recording the hat trick felt really good, “because I haven’t scored much this year so it was nice.”
She pointed out her teammates were the main reason she scored the goals, and she added she’s proud of how the Wild’s season is going so far. “Our team has really come together as a group and worked hard, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”
