The Central Plains Capitals lost their third straight to Pembina Valley last night in the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League. They were on the wrong side of a 4-1 decision.

"The first five or six minutes we came out quite good," says head coach Ferdi Nelissen. "They scored and it wasn't a great goal, and that deflated us. The next thing we knew we were down 3-0 after one."

"The second period (Pembina Valley) added another goal to make it 4-0, and we didn't generate anything. We didn't even get a shot in the second period. At one point the shots were 6-7, and when we started the third they were 25-7."

The third period was a different story as the Caps started to play with a lot more physicality in the final 20 minutes. Nelissen says they actually made a goaltending change and it seemed to fire up the girls.

"Ella Wiebe came in and kept us in the game, she didn't give up a goal," says Nelissen. "We're not blaming anything on Lacey Friesen, but we had to make a change. The fourth goal wasn't great, it kind of went through her, but we said we didn't want them to get shots from the slot and it was happening. It's tough when you're a goalie facing shots from the high scoring areas. We did a lot better job of keeping them to the outside in the second half of the game."

The Caps have two exhibition games this weekend. They face Regina Rebels tomorrow in Deloraine, and Weyburn Gold Wings on Sunday in Hartney.