February 22, 2017

Day scores twice as Blues hold on for Game 1 win over Gaels

Fifth-year forward Taylor Day scored two goals in leading the No. 10 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over the Queen's Gaels in Game 1 of the best-of-three quarter-final series on Wednesday night (Feb. 22) at Varsity Arena.

Toronto

Queen's

Final

Toronto

Queen's

Fifth-year forward Taylor Day scored two goals in leading the No. 10 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team to a 3-2 victory over the Queen's Gaels in Game 1 of the best-of-three quarter-final series on Wednesday night (Feb. 22) at Varsity Arena.

The Blues wasted no time, opening the scoring on their first powerplay opportunity 3:11 into the contest Day received a nice feed from team captain Kristi Riseley and sent a wide-angled shot into the back of the net.

Sophomore standout Cristine Chao put the Blues up by two late in the frame, one-timing a pass from Becki Bowering past Gaels goaltender Stephanie Pascal.

Toronto was up 2-0 at the first intermission.

Day struck again early in the second period as she stripped a Gaels defenceman of the puck and made no mistake on the shorthanded breakaway, deking around Pascal to put Toronto up 3-0.

The Gaels got on the board late in the second as fourth-year defenceman Micaela Smith buried a rebound on a 5-on-3 powerplay opportunity. The Blues were up 3-1 after 40 minutes.

Gaels captain Jessica Wakefield brought the game within one with 11 minutes remaining as she went end-to-end on the powerplay for the highlight reel goal.

Queen's continued to press but the Blues stood tall and second-year netminder Valencia Yordanov earned the win with a 26-save performance.

The Varsity Blues will now look to sweep the series as they head to Kingston, Ont., for Game 2 this Saturday, February 25 at 8 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, is back at Varsity Arena on Sunday, February 26 at 7 p.m.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues