W-HOCKEY WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Sluys gets CIS-leading 6th shutout in Warriors win against Badgers
The Toronto Varsity Blues rolled into town on Friday night and showed the league-leading Mustangs that they were a force to be reckoned with as they walked away with a 2-1 shootout win over the purple and white.
Friday, January 30
Toronto 2 @ Western 1 (SO)
The Toronto Varsity Blues rolled into town on Friday night and showed the league-leading Mustangs that they were a force to be reckoned with as they walked away with a 2-1 shootout win over the purple and white.
"I thought we played very well. I think the 1-1 at the end of the third period was a fair result and I think the chances were even," said Mustangs head coach Chris Higgins. "We played good D-zone coverage, it was more the turnovers at the far end that got us into some trouble."
Despite the loss, the Mustangs still maintain their spot atop the OUA standings with a 15-1-3 record, while the Varsity Blues now hold a 14-3-3 record, good for third place in the league.
The Varsity Blues came out strong into the first period and held the Mustang's blue line firm in their attempts to put points on the board. Despite outshooting the purple and white ten-to-seven, the Blues were unable to find an opening in the net of Western's Kelly Campbell.
The second frame mirrored the first as both teams remained scoreless despite heavy blue and white offensive pressure in the Mustangs end of the ice.
When the Mustangs and the Blues came back onto the ice after the second intermission, both teams were determined to take control of the game. Despite both sides getting off equal numbers of shots on net it was the Blues that got to the scoreboard first as Jacqueline Scheffel found the back of Campbell's net at 13:55.
Despite the blue and white advantage the Mustangs fought hard to recover, and the purple and white did just that when they pulled Campbell from the net with a minute left in the play to challenge the Blues six-on-five. With the one player advantage Western's Kendra Broad picked up and put it past Blues' goaltender Nicole Kesteris to tie the score up 1-1 with only thirty second left in the match.
Broad's goal sent the match into a five minute penalty period, but more than that, it provided the Mustangs with at least one point coming out of this contest – win or lose.
With a scoreless overtime period the game was sent into shootout rounds where the fate of the game was sealed when the Blues netted goals on both of their shots from Taylor Day and Kristi Risely, while Western shooters Katelyn Gosling and Ally Galloway failed to get the puck past Kesteris. With the 2-0 shootout result, the Blues walked away with the 2-1 victory.
"I give [Toronto] some credit on the shootouts, those were two very nice shootout goals," said Higgins adding that, "When you're losing 1-0 with less than a minute to go and walk out with a point you've got to be pretty happy."
Laurentian 0 @ York 2
Megan Lee made 17 saves for her third shutout of the season to lead the York University Lions women's hockey team to a 2-0 victory over the Laurentian Voyageurs on Friday night (Jan. 30) at Canlan Ice Sports.
The win gave the Lions an important two points in the standings, and they are now up to seventh place in the OUA with a 10-9-2 record and 22 points. The Voyageurs, who have been eliminated from the playoffs, fell to 3-12-5.
Fifth-year forward and team co-captain Lisa Stathopulos (Toronto) scored the opening goal, what stood as the game winner, and added an assist on the second to add to her league-leading total. She now has 29 points on the year and 16 goals, both OUA bests.
The Lions controlled possession for most of the first period, but neither team was able to generate many scoring chances and the game remained scoreless after one.
That changed just over three minutes into the second period when Stathopulos scored a shorthanded tally with teammate Stephanie Dovaston (Unionville, Ont.) in the box for body checking. Co-captainLindsay Brook (Ste. Rose, Man.) earned the assist on the play.
The Lions peppered Laurentian goaltender Emily Toffoli with 13 shots in the period, compared to just six from the Voyageurs, and they were finally rewarded for their efforts with a second goal at 15:52, scored by Mariah Krancevich (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.).
The Lions carried the 2-0 lead into the second intermission.
The Voyageurs fought hard down the stretch to try and get the puck past Lee, but they could not do so. Facing a 6-on-3 situation with two minutes remaining – with a pair of Lions in the box and Toffoli on the bench – Lee made a number of point-blank saves and benefitted from one shot off the crossbar with just seconds remaining, to record the shutout.
Saturday, January 31
Toronto 5 @ Laurier 4 (SO)
The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women's hockey team allowed a three-goal advantage to slip away on Saturday afternoon as they fell 5-4 in a shootout to the Toronto Varsity Blues.
After taking a 4-1 lead midway through the second period, the Hawks allowed the Blues back into the game as Toronto scored a pair of goals late in the middle stanza to trail 4-3 after 40 minutes.
Laurier appeared to have the game in control in the third as they kept the Blues at bay, allowing only five shots on goal, however, on that fifth shot Toronto tied the game. Kristi Riseley of Pickering, Ont., scored her second of the game with under two minutes to play to send the game to overtime.
After five minutes of extra play solved nothing, the two teams went to a shootout. The first two shooters for each team were stopped before Jacqueline Scheffel of Waubaushene, Ont., chipped one past Laurier goalie Amanda Smith of Burlington, Ont., to give her team the lead.
Tammy Freiburger of Wingham, Ont., had a chance to extend the game but her attempt was denied handing the Blues the come-from-behind win.
Despite not scoring in the shootout, Freiburger was one of the stories of the game as the fifth year forward scored the 50th goal of her OUA career. Her first of two goals in the contest pushed her past the mark, which only four other Laurier players have achieved in the history of the program. Her 50th and 51st career goals came in her 117th game giving her 98 points as a Golden Hawk.
Haley Baxter of Waterloo, Ont., and Robyn Degagne of North Bay, Ont., also scored for Laurier in the loss while Smith made 29 saves in a losing effort.
Toronto goalie Nicole Kesteris of Aurora, Ont., stopped 30 shots in regulation and stopped all three shooters in the shootout to earn the win.
With the loss, the Hawks fall to 11-4-4 on the season and are tied for fifth in the OUA with 26 points. As for the Blues, they move to 12-3-3 for the year and are tied for second in the conference with 27 points.
Brock 0 @ Waterloo 4
If there was ever a must-win game for the Waterloo women's hockey team it was today's contest against Brock at home and they did not disappoint in their annual Alumni game skating away with the 4-0 win.
Rookie sensation Stephanie Sluys (Clinton) was solid once again in the net for Waterloo stopping all 18 shots faced for her CIS leading sixth shutout of the season. Sluys sits fourth in the CIS with a GAA of 1.22 and fifth in save percentage at .948.
The win puts Waterloo two games above .500 with a 9-7-4 record as they sit tied for the eighth and final playoff spot with York with 22 points. With the loss Brock dropped to 1-14-1 on the season.
Marissa Redmond (Ajax) opened the scoring for the Warriors on their first powerplay opportunity of the game midway through the first period. Redmond put home the rebound into the gaping net after a nice low shot by Rachel Marriott (Waterloo). Carolyn Burke (Mississauga) picked up the second helper on the opening goal.
Redmond's goal would stand as the only tally until early in the third when Angela MacDonald (Kitchener) banged home a rebound off of a point shot from Bailey Bradt (Ilderton). Bradt's defensive partner, Dana Fairbarn (Maple) was given the other assist on the goal.
Waterloo would add to their lead seven minutes later on a strange one. Carolyn Burke (Mississauga) iced the puck on a Warrior penalty kill but the Brock netminder Olivia Hodder misplayed the rolling puck and it would end up behind her, giving Waterloo the edge 3-0.
Marriott added her second point of the game on an empty netter to seal the all-important 4-0 win for Waterloo.
Toronto 3 @ Windsor 1
The Lancer women's hockey team took to the ice against the Toronto Varsity Blues Saturday afternoon in the Windsor Lancers annual Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
Windsor dropped a tough 3-1 decision to the visiting Blues earned their fifth straight win and moved up on the Lancers in the OUA standings. With the loss the Lancers moved to 12-3-4 on the season and sit in sole possession of fifth place, while the Blues improve to 15-3-3 and move into second.
Windsor was without three of their top forwards as Jenny MacKnight and Bree Polci are competing in the World Universiade in Spain for the next two weeks and rookie Krystin Lawrence was serving a game misconduct from the game against York last weekend.
The Lancers got on the board quickly when they were sent to the power play only four minutes into the first period.Shailyn Waites received a pass from Larissa Borowiec in front of the net and blasted one by Toronto goaltender Katey Teekasingh.
Late in the first period, the Varsity Blues got on the scoreboard as Becki Bowering re-directed a shot from the slot over the shoulder of Marissa Kozovski.
There were not many shots for either side in the second period, but Toronto's Taylor Day was able to capitalize on a power play to put the Varsity Blues up 2-1 heading into the third period.
In the third, Toronto added one more goal from Sonja Weidenfelder to bring their lead to 3-1. The Lancers had some good chances in the final minute with their goalie pulled, but were not able to beat Teekasingh, who had 24 saves in the game.
Nipissing 2 @ York 1
The York University Lions women's hockey team lost to the Nipissing Lakers 2-1 in overtime on Saturday (Jan. 31) in a home game at Canlan Ice Sports.
The game started slowly as both the first and second periods were scoreless; it only started to pick up speed in the third period when the Lakers finally broke the deadlock.
At 12:22, Nipissing's Alexane Papineau passed the puck to Molly Sipprell who quickly touched it to Janica Vossos, who quickly snuck in a goal to put the Lakers in the lead with 1-0.
The Lions did not give up, however, as Chelsea Tucker (Alliston, Ont.) tried her luck by weaving in and out of the Lakers players and sent a hard shot on net, but it was saved goaltender Jackie Rochefort.
With less than three minutes remaining in the game, the Lions finally got on the board when Tonisha Maisonneuve (North Bay, Ont.) slid the puck to OUA scoring leader Lisa Stathopulos (Toronto), who crossed a Lakers defender and sent the puck sprawling to Kristen Barbara (Mount Hope, Ont.), who quickly one-touched the puck into the back of the net and tied the score at 1-1.
Barbara's goal at the end of the period gave the Lions an important single point in the OUA standings as the game headed to the extra frame.
It didn't take Nipissing long to earn the second point, however, as Bronwyn Bolduc forced the puck over goaltender Megan Lee's pads and into the net just 1:12 in to end the game in favour of the Lakers.
Rochefort made 27 saves to earn the win between the pipes and Lee stopped 16, including three highlight-reel saves late in the second.
Despite the loss, the Lions move up to seventh in the OUA standings with a record of 10-9-3 for 22 points, and the Lakers are tied for ninth with a record of 9-8-3 and 20 points. The Lakers have two games in hand on the Lions.
A late third period, game-tying goal from Brianna Iazzolino gave the Mustangs the boost they needed to stay in the game and walk away with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Ryerson Rams on Saturday night at Thompson Arena.
Sunday, February 1
Guelph 7 @ Waterloo 0
The University of Guelph women's hockey team won 7-0 over the Waterloo Warriors Sunday afternoon at the Columbia Ice Fields. With the win, the Gryphons finish their four game road trip a perfect 4-0 and improve to 15-2-3 on the season. Three different players on the Gryphons recorded four-point performances. The Gryphons led 2-0 after the first period and 6-0 after the second. With the loss, the Warriors fall to 9-8-4.
Jessica Pinkerton (2 G, 2 A), Christine Grant (1 G, 3 A) and Leigh Shilton (1 G, 3 A) all finished with four points as the Gryphons scored a season-high seven goals and recorded their largest margin of victory this season. First year goalie Valerie Lamenta turned away all 20 shots sent her way for the shutout.
After goals from Leigh Shilton and Kelly Gribbons recorded first period goals to give the Gryphons a 2-0 lead, the Gryphs would blow the game wide open in the second period. Goals from Kaitlin Lowy, Katie Mora, Christine Grant and Jessica Pinkerton extended the lead to 6-0. Pinkerton would score again in the third to cap off the scoring on the day.
First place in the OUA will be on the line when the Gryphons (15-2-3) next take the ice, as they will host the Western Mustangs (16-1-3) on Saturday, February 7th at 2pm at the Gryphon Centre. Currently, the Mustangs sit two points ahead of Gryphons.
Ryerson 2 @ Windsor 1
The Lancer women's hockey team lost their second game of the weekend on Sunday when they fell 2-1 to the visiting Ryerson Rams.
The first period was evenly played with both teams having a few quality chances on offence. However, the game remained scoreless heading into the second period.
Both teams opened the up the game and got on the scoreboard in the second period.
After being sent to the power play, Ryerson's Stephanie Christe scored first on a screened shot from the slot that was placed over the shoulder of Lancer goaltender Marissa Kozovski. The Rams struck again as Justine Glover found Sarah McGilvray at the midway mark to put Ryerson up 2-0.
Just over one minute later, Candace Chevalier skated the puck up ice for the Lancers and found an open Larissa Borowiec from the corner who beat Ally Sarna to cut the lead to one going into the third period.
In the third, the Lancers had a few great opportunities on a 5-on-3 power play, but Sarna was solid between the pipes turning them all away.
Windsor continued to battle hard right to the end, however they could not find the back of the net, falling to the Rams 2-1.
Brock 0 @ Laurier 3
The Brock Badgers women's hockey team (1-15-4) dropped a 3-0 decision to the Laurier Golden Hawks (12-5-4) Sunday night in Waterloo.
Laurier scored all its goals in the second period including two powerplay markers - one by Tammy Freiburger and the other by Robin Degagne. Hailey Baxter had the other Hawks goal even-strength.
Nicholle Kovach turned aside 17 Brock shots for the shutout.
Stephanie Loukes made 32 saves between the pipes for the Badgers who went 0-for-3 on the powerplay. Laurier was 2-for-4.