Voyageurs move into fourth place with 4-1 win over Brock

On Sunday afternoon, the Voyageurs women's hockey team got back into the win column after beating Brock 4-1, and now claiming sole possession of fourth place.

Source: Laurentian Voyageurs

Ridgebacks' comeback falls short against Lancers

OSHAWA, Ont. – The Windsor Lancers ended up on the winning end of a wild 5-4 game against the UOIT women's hockey team at the Campus Ice Centre on Sunday afternoon.
 
After the opening period the Ridgebacks led 1-0, leaning on Kassidy Nauboris' (Brampton, Ont.) goal that came just 1:29 into the game. Her goal was a team-leading seventh of the season, with assists going to Sam Forchielli (Hamilton, Ont.) and Mikaeli Cavell (Edmonton, Alta.).
 
Cavell scored another quick goal for UOIT, just 1:02 into the second period on the power play to give the Ridgebacks a 2-0 lead.
 
UOIT may have had the two-goal lead, but Windsor was outshooting the Ridgebacks and just over seven minutes after Cavell's goal the game looked completely different.
 
The Ridgebacks allowed three straight goals, the first by Danielle Butler and two by Krystin Lawrence, to lead 3-2 at the 8:31 mark of the second.
 
Forchielli, assisted by Nauboris and Cavell, would tie the game with 7:03 to go in the period, but again Windsor answered. On the power play, Shawna Lesperance scored her fifth of the season unassisted at the 16:00 mark to give the Lancers a 4-3 lead through two periods.
 
It looked like that is where the game would finish, but with Tori Campbell (Saskatoon, Sask.) pulled in the final minute, UOIT's Nicole LoPresti (Hamilton, Ont.) potted her third of the season with just 12 seconds remaining in regulation.
 
The goal, assisted by Shanelle Doucette (Bowmanville, Ont.) and Nicole Zabel (Palmerston, Ont.), tied the game 4-4 and sent the game to overtime.
 
Unfortunately for the Ridgebacks their comeback fell short, with Erinn Noseworthy scoring the game-winning goal for Windsor at the 3:41 mark of the first overtime period.
 
Campbell made 28 saves for UOIT in the loss.
 
The Ridgebacks will now hit the road to face the Ryerson Rams on Saturday before hosting the Laurentian Voyageurs on Sunday in their final game of the first half of the OUA season. UOIT opens the second half of the 2016-17 campaign on January 7 in North Bay against Nipissing.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

Western downs York for second consecutive win

LONDON, Ont. – For the second straight day a three-goal second period led the Western Mustangs to a win, defeating the visiting York Lions by a score of 5-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Thompson Arena.

The win ends a successful weekend for the purple in white. They snapped a three-game losing streak the day prior by defeating UOIT 5-2 in Oshawa and now move into a tie with Laurentian for fourth in the OUA with a 5-1-5-1 record.

Despite being outshot 7-5 in the opening period, it was the Mustangs that threatened to score the first goal of the game. The Lions committed four penalties which gave Western almost seven full minutes of power play time, including a stretch where they held the skater advantage for five of eight minutes to close out the frame, but the game remained scoreless.

Katie Jacobs, getting the start in net for the Mustangs after playing the second and third periods on Saturday, stopped all five shots she faced to keep the game scoreless as the first period ended with neither team finding the back of the net. 

After neither team managed to challenge the opponent's goalkeeper with a shot on target for over four minutes, it appeared the second period would be a defensive affair much like the opening frame. That changed at the seven-minute mark when forward Amanda Pereira fired a seemingly innocent shot that got past the Lions goalkeeper and into the net for Pereira's third goal of the season.

"It was a huge shift in momentum for us," said Pereira about the goal. "It was kind of a lucky bounce and that's what we needed to get us going in the right direction."

Veteran forward and OUA-leading goal scorer Lyndsay Kirkham tipped the momentum further in the Mustangs favour by splitting the defence and putting away a breakaway goal less than a minute later.

The Lions tallied their first goal of the game shorthanded when team captain Amy Locke put away the rebound of sister Erin's initial breakaway effort to reduce the deficit to one. On the same power play in which they conceded the goal, rookie forward Alyssa Chiarello put away a loose puck in front of the net for her fifth goal of the campaign to restore the two-goal lead.

York put forth a strong effort in the third period by outshooting the Mustangs 12-9, but Jacobs and company shut the door on the Lions to win their second consecutive game. Western successfully defended two power play opportunities for the Lions to hold them 0-4 with the skater advantage for the game, marking the fourth consecutive game they haven't allowed a power play goal.

"We didn't get off to a great start the first eight games of the year on our penalty kill," said Mustangs assistant coach Blair Webster about the team's recent success on special teams. "We've focused a little bit more on special teams the last couple of weeks at practice and I think on both the penalty kill and power play we've been successful."

Kirkham effectively secured the victory for Western by scoring two empty net goals, resulting in her third hat-trick of the season and extending her OUA-leading goal total to 11.

The Mustangs will look to build on their efforts over the weekend when they travel to Waterloo to take on the Warriors on Saturday, November 26, at 2:30 p.m. at the Columbia Ice Field. Fans can tune in to all the action live on OUA.tv

Source: Western Mustangs