The Diamond Energy Female Midget AAA Wildcats put a bit of a beatdown on the Battlefords Sharks in Game 1 of their best-of-five series.

Swift Current tripled up the Sharks 6-2 at Fairview West Thursday night.

In a balanced dose of scoring, five different Wildcats put pucks past the Sharks keeper.

Maddy McCleary scored the game's first goal on the powerplay for a 1-0 lead after one.

Taylor Lind (PP) and Carissa Hogan scored in the second for a 3-1 Wildcats lead after two, leading to a dominant third period.

In a span of three minutes, goals came from Sara Kendall (PP), Baylee Kirwan (penalty shot) and Kendall again for a commanding 6-1 lead. 

A late Sharks powerplay marker made it a 6-2 final.

The Wildcats finished the game 3-for-5 on the man-advantage, while Battlefords managed a 2-for-7 effort.

"If it's going to be a penalty-filled affair like it was today, you've got to win the special teams battle," said head coach Terry Pavely. "We kind of gave that late one up on a lucky bounce, but overall we were really happy with our specialty teams."

"With that being said, we can't kill that many penalties against this team," Pavely added. "In the second period we took four, and three of them were ones we didn't need to take. We're going to get some body checking penalties, but when you take three that are a little unnecessary, it really kills momentum."

Despite a couple minor penalties killing a bit of the rhythm, it didn't disrupt the effort in Battlefords end too much at all.

"We got 40 shots. We didn't keep track of shot attempts today, but it probably would have been 55. Offensive zone we were pretty good tonight."

Amaya Giraudier finished with the 19-save win in net, while Hogan and Lind finished with a game-high three points after chipping in with a pair of helpers apiece to go with their goals.

Swift Current out-shot the Sharks 40-21, firmly setting the tone in the series moving forward.

"It was definitely a great start to the series," said Wildcats captain Maddy McCleary. "Hoping to come back tomorrow with an even better, more consistent play. That game's going to be huge - if we can come out with a win, that's definitely going to put us in a spot we want to be in coming back home for Game 3."

McCleary noted what the team will need to sharpen up to be in the best position to take a commanding 2-0 series lead.

"Just more consistent, making sure we don't give lapses up, goals at the end of the game, just make sure we eliminate those and just keep pressing on them," said the Swift Current-born blueliner.

The Wildcats don't have to wait long to ride the momentum into Game 2. They're up in Battlefords tonight for an 8:15 p.m. puck drop.

We'll have the game for you live on Swift Current Online from the "Local Sports Live" link, with pregame starting at 8 p.m.