The female U18 AAA Central Plains Capitals competed hard but unfortunately fell in their home opener last night.

The Caps were taken down by the undefeated Winnipeg Ice 4-1. Head coach Brendan Schaan says the difference in this game was just the little things.

"Sometimes we were a little bit too puck-focused. In our D-zone, when they're coming down on a 2-on-2, it almost looks like our weak-side defenceman is more fixated on what the puck is doing rather than where their responsibility is," Schaan explains. "It's little things like that, that a team has to learn, adjust, and adapt with. I thought the effort was there for a good majority of the game. We had some good scoring chances. I don't think that team is much better than us. I think they got some good bounces, and we have some things we have to work on. The talent is there, and I think there are good things to come in the future."

Kamryn Cloet found the back of the net for the first time this year in the third period to get Central Plains on the board, and Schaan says that was definitely a positive. With the Ice being the only unbeaten team left in the league, the head coach adds it's great to know they can hang with the best.

"We showed that we can play with them. We played two solid periods where it was literally skate for skate, forechecks were both working very well, and D-zones were both working very well. There were a couple of mental slip-ups on our end that caused a couple of goals to go in," Schaan continues. "Beyond that, I thought it was a very even game, and I thought it could've went either way when push comes to shove."

With a road game on the docket tonight, against the 1-2 Eastman Selects, Schaan notes this one will be all about preparation.

"It's always hard when you play two games in two days. Our schedule actually leans on that quite a bit quite heavily. So, a lot of it is about the recovery and what we're going to do to prepare ourselves. The best thing we can do is put in a full 60-minute effort out there. I'm positive good things will happen if we work hard. As long as we do that, we should be in a good situation."

The Capitals and Selects will battle it out tonight in Niverville at 7:00, and Central Plains will return to home ice next weekend as they welcome the Interlake Lightning to town on Friday.