Dietz - the Stars unsung hero

Kianna Dietz gets set to wire a shot on goal for the Stars.

    Kianna Dietz is the “glue gal” who helps the Saskatoon Stars go.

    The 17-year-old centre has been a member of the Stars since the start of the 2014-15 campaign, and has quietly gone out and given her best on a nightly basis. A number of her teammates have piled up the points offensively and received more recognition, but Dietz, who stands 5-foot-9, has been a regular filling a gritty checking role and chipped in points when needed.
    She has displayed soft hands in the offensive zone on occasion either making plays or scoring goals.

    Dietz has played a key role in helping the Stars win Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League championships in 2015 and 2016 and subsequently appear in the Esso Cup national championship tournament.

Kianna Dietz celebrates scoring in Game 3 of the 2015 SFMAAAHL finals.

    The Hanley, Sask., product was an important contributor to the Stars posting their best regular season record ever last season at 25-2-1 and making it to a third straight league championship series, where they fell to the Prince Albert Northern Bears.

    On Sunday at the Agriplace Arena, Dietz happened to be in a key place again helping set up a third period goal by Joelle Fiala to give the Stars a 5-2 lead on the visiting Melville Prairie Fire. That tally turned out to be the winning goal, as the Stars held on for a 5-4 victory.

    Dietz is part of a group of six playing out their final season of midget eligibility with the Stars including Mackenna Parker, Jordyn Gerlitz, Jordyn Holmes, Dana Wood and Jordan Ivanco, and she wouldn’t trade her time with the team for anything.

    “It has been great,” said Dietz, who had nine goals and six assists in 28 regular season games last season for the Stars. “It is a great four years with lots of memories.

Kianna Dietz breaks into the offensive zone for the Stars on Sunday.

    “I just want to finish with like a good year. There are six graduating, so we definitely want to finish strong.”

    Dietz has had a couple of signature moments with the team as well. In the female final of the prestigious Mac’s Midget Tournament in Calgary in January of 2015, Dietz had a goal in the Stars 4-2 victory over the Calgary Fire at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

    On March 25, 2015 at the Agriplace Arena, Dietz set up the Stars first ever SFMAAAHL championship winning goal, which was scored by Gerlitz. Dietz proceeded to net the insurance marker to help the Stars down the Bears 2-0 in Game 3 of the SFMAAAHL series and sweep the best-of-five set 3-0.

    Dietz said playing for the Stars has had a big impact on her life, and that she has been lucky to have Greg Slobodzian as her head coach for a fifth straight season. Slobodzian was Dietz’s head coach on the Saskatoon Comets bantam AA team during the 2013-14 campaign.

Joelle Fiala had a pair of goals for the Stars on Sunday.

    “It has definitely made me the player that I am today,” said Dietz, who has a goal and a career high nine assists in 12 appearances this season for the Stars. “With Greg especially coaching me for five years now, it has helped me so much.

    “My game has definitely improved a lot.”

    Slobodzian said Dietz is one of those players that can deliver insight to the coaches. The two often have a lot of conversations about what they saw watching NHL games on television. Dietz will watch as many NHL games as she can during a hockey season.

    “She is a real smart kid who gets and understands the game,” said Slobodzian. “There are often times she will be like, ‘Hey coach, look at what they are doing.’

    “She will pick something out before I see it.”

    The bench boss said that even before Sunday’s game Dietz visited the coach’s office and asked how her game was and what she needed to improve on.

Captain Mackenna Parker had the Stars fourth goal on Sunday.

    “If you have every athlete like that sort of taking ownership of like, ‘OK, how am I doing and how can I help,’ it would be great to have 19 girls putting that kind of thought process into it,” said Slobodzian. “That is the type of girl she is.

    “She has great hands, a great shot and is super smart. Unfortunately, she has to get just a little bit quicker, and that is often the case with some players.

    “She is great. I have always enjoyed coaching her. She really, really cares.”
    Dietz came away a bit disappointed with how her team played on Friday. The Stars jumped ahead 3-0 in the first period with goals from Anna Leschyshyn, Gerlitz and Fiala.

    In the second period, Erin Armstrong scored for the Prairie Fire and Mackenna Parker replied for the Stars to allow Saskatoon to head into the second intermission with a 4-1 edge.

Anna Leschyshyn scored the Stars first goal on Sunday.

    Kailey Ottenbreit scored for Melville at the 6:43 mark of the third to cut Saskatoon’s edge to 4-2.

Dietz proceeded to set up Fiala’s second of the night to give the Stars a 5-2 edge.

    Saskatoon had to hold on as Jordan Fry and Jaydea Guenter-Belte netted singles for the Prairie Fire to cut the host’s edge to 5-4, but that was as close as the visitors would get.

    Ivanco made 26 stops to pick up the win in goal for the Stars, who improved to 13-0. Taylor Nagy turned away 33 shots to take the setback in goal for the Prairie Fire, who fell to 5-9.  

    “We know we can be better than that, so we have to really work harder and put in a whole 60 minutes for a game,” said Dietz. “They work really hard that team, and we kind of didn’t keep our foot on the pedal the whole game.”

The Stars celebrate their win on Sunday.

    Due to the fact the Stars have experience so much success, Dietz said her team has to fight the false sense of security feeling that the wins are just going to happen.

    “We have to know that each game we have to come prepared to work our hardest,” said Dietz. “Even in practice, we have to work to keep up that tempo we know we can play with.

    “We just have to make sure we work hard for it.”

    The Stars resume their regular season schedule on Dec. 16, when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Diamond Energy Wildcats.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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