The Sask Prairie Ice 98s peewee girl’s hockey team is dominating their competition this spring, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of their last line of defence.

Loreburn’s Jasey-Rae Book, 14, recently backstopped the team to a 3-1 win over Sask-Can in the gold medal game at the Saskatoon City of Bridges AAA hockey tournament. Jasey-Rae claimed MVP honours for the final game in the May 15-18 tournament winning a 28″ TV for her efforts.

“I have a high confidence level right now,” said Jasey-Rae, a Grade 9 student at Loreburn Central School. “The puck seems to keep out of the net.”

A hockey player since she was four years old at both the goaltender and forward position, Jasey-Rae is no stranger to big games. She is also a member of the Diefenbaker Thunder, who made it to the league final against the Fort Qu’Appelle Flyers earlier this spring.

Despite a strong effort, the Thunder suffered a 5-4 loss to the Flyers, but Jasey-Rae said it was a close back-and-forth affair.

With her summer team, the Prairie Ice, Jasey-Rae deflects credit for the team’s success just like the many pucks shot her way. She said the team is “really strong” defensively, which makes her job between the pipes pretty easy

She said they also have many offensive weapons on the team, so she knows if one does get by her or the team’s alternate goalie, Tatum Shand, the Prairie Ice would have an answer.

This was made obvious by the team’s strong tournament play this year finishing with silver in their earlier two tournament entries in Regina and Calgary before the gold medal triumph in Saskatoon.

This is Jasey-Rae’s fourth year on the Regina summer league team, whose lineup consists of players from numerous Southern Saskatchewan locales including Weyburn and Outlook. Over her years, she has also suited up for the Outlook IceHawks and Loreburn 19ers.

Jasey-Rae said summer hockey is different from winter hockey as the Prairie Ice is more of a “tournament team.” The club doesn’t play any regular season games and practices only on off weekends from tournaments in Regina.

Their season ends in June after a yet-to-be-confirmed tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, but the first task at hand for the club is duplicating their latest gold medal effort at their next tourney this weekend in Regina.

“I’d say we have a pretty good chance of winning the thing,” said Jasey-Rae, “but you never know.”