OUA Women's Hockey Roundup (Nov. 13)
November 9, 2017
Ryerson 5 Toronto 3
TORONTO - A hard-fought battle against the fifth-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues led the Ryerson Rams to a 5-3 victory, bumping the team up to second in the OUA’s league standings.
The team celebrated their first regulation win in four games after defeating Toronto, and captain Ailish Forfar (Sharon, Ont.) netted her first hat trick of her OUA career in the victory.
The first period saw a lot of back-and-forth action from between both teams, and the Varsity Blues opened the game taking a 2-0 lead. Ryerson’s Brooklyn Gemmill (Cambridge, Ont.) scored the Rams’ first goal on the power play, initiating the comeback for her team with just over three minutes to play in the first period. Gemmill, the first-year forward, ended the game with a goal and three assists and is now tied for the team lead in points with Forfar.
Forfar scored the Rams’ second goal with just 30 seconds to play in the first, and the team headed into the dressing room tied 2-2 against Toronto with two periods left to play. Forfar came back to tally two more goals in the game, and Ryerson’s Emma Low-A-Chee (North York, Ont.) scored the first of her Ryerson career in the second period.
The Rams left the game with a 5-3 victory in a game that marked career-firsts for two of their players.
The Rams went 3/6 on the powerplay, and maintain their spot as the number one power play in the OUA by a very wide margin. The Rams currently hold a 32.4% PP, and the Queen’s Gaels occupy the second spot with a 23.3% power play percentage.
Source: ryersonrams.ca
November 10, 2017
York 3 Ryerson 2
The York University Lions women's hockey team took on the Ryerson Rams Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre and avenged an earlier season loss with a 3-2 victory, their second of the season.
The Rams kicked off the scoring with a goal by Emma Low-A-Chee early in the first period. She was assisted by Lauren Nicholson and Laura Bell.
All three of the Lions' goal were scored in the second period. Tayler Murphy scored the first goal at 5:05 on a power play, assisted by Taylor Davison and Madison Davey. Murphy went on to score again five minutes later. This time, she was assisted by Erin Locke and Chelsea Tucker.
Just 45 seconds after taking their first lead of the game, the Lions saw the score levelled at two apiece when Elexa Pakozdy scored for the Rams. Teammates Sarah McGilvray and Kayla Karbonik were credited with assists.
The Lions took the lead once again less than four minutes later when Davison scored what turned out to be the winner. The third period remained scoreless on both sides, and the Lions skated off with the victory.
The Lions improve to a 2-0-5-1 season record, and the Rams fall to 3-2-2-1.
Source: yorkulions.ca
UOIT 2 Windsor 3
The Lancer women's hockey team won their first game of the season with a 3-2 shootout victory over the visiting UOIT Ridgebacks on Friday night at South Windsor Arena.
Despite never leading, the Lancers were able to use timely scoring as well as a clutch performance by goaltender Molly Jenkins to gut out the victory.
Windsor improves to 0-1-6-0 while the Ridgebacks move to 2-2-3-1 in the OUA standings.
GAME FLOW
The first period was one of staunch defending. Neither team surrendered a goal despite the Lancers playing with a five on three advantage for over a minute. The Ridgebacks would break through in the second period when Jamie Bullied beat Jenkins off a feed from Sophia Christopherson. About five minutes later, the Lancers would even things up when Regan Kauffman was able to sneak the puck past UOIT's Celine Tessier with the help of assists from Emily Bowman and Sydney Dobbin.
The Ridgebacks put themselves ahead at the 6:45 mark of the third period off a goal from Kassidy Nauboris, Chelsea Ball picked up the assist. Not long after UOIT's goal, the Lancers got one of their own. Taylor Conte put one past Tessier on a power play to tie the game up. The rest of the period was ripe with chances but scarce with any conversions and regulation time would not be enough.
In overtime neither team could get anything going despite both teams being awarded power players. After a scoreless overtime, the game headed to a shootout where the goaltenders put on a clinic. After both Celine Tessier and Molly Jenkins retired three shooters each, Taylor Conte was finally able to break the stalemate by netting the game winner for the Lancers.
Jenkins stopped 28 out of 30 shots to earn the victory, while Tessier made 34 saves in the loss. The Lancers outshot the Ridgebacks 36-30, and were able to kill off all five penalties.
Source: golancers.com
November 11, 2017
Laurentian 0 Guelph 2
GUELPH – The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team is beginning to distance themselves from a disappointing start to the OUA season. The two-time defending McCaw Cup champions have looked much more like the title-winners they are of late. Guelph ran it's win streak to three games with a sharp 2-0 victory over the visiting Laurentian Voyageurs on Alumni Day at the Gryphon Centre Arena.
The former Gryphon players in attendance, representing different generations, were treated to an excellent performance. Guelph applied pressure early and often, while playing a sound defensive game that kept Laurentian's scoring opportunities to a minimum, for a second consecutive shutout.
"We played a complete 60 minutes today," said head coach Rachel Flanagan, who felt good about the team's effort. "We've found some chemistry with our lines."
Mallory Young and captain Lowy scored for the Gryphons (4-3-0). season and second career shutout.
Beaulieu made arguably her best save of the night early in the third period with the Gryphons up 1-0. Laurentian forward Jessica Staats steamed towards the net and let a hard shot go that Beaulieu stopped before smothering the rebound with Voyageurs crashing the net. The second-year Calgary, AB native also had to come up big with some key saves on a couple late Laurentian power plays.
The stop was critical because moments later, Guelph extended the lead to two goals when Lowy scored 2:50 into the third period. The puck was loose near the net after a shot from the point and Lowy gathered it, and coolly brought it on to her backhand before flipping the puck over Laurentian goaltender Karen Collins.
The Voyageurs pulled Collins fairly early for an extra attacker, and even had a 6-on-4 with a late Guelph penalty, but the Gryphons were composed on the crucial penalty kill to close out the game.
Young had scored the opener, and eventual winner, with 2:02 remaining in the first period, also a result of a point shot. Young let one go from inside the blueline and the puck bounced off the glass, took a bounce off the scrum around the crease, and went in behind Collins.
Flanagan said that it was a great opportunity to have the former Guelph players in attendance. The alumni who came played as far back as 1967 and they stayed to talk with the coaches and current players long after the game.
"It was pretty special for us to engage in conversation with the people who we try to honour every time our players pull their jerseys over their heads," the coach said.
Source: gryphons.ca
Nipissing 4 Brock 0
It was an up and down weekend for the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team, as they took on the Brock Badgers and Guelph Gryphons on the road.
The Lakers started things off with a big 4-0 win over the Badgers to snap a mini two-game losing streak, but Nipissing was shutout the next day, losing 5-0 to the Gryphons.
Saturday against Brock, the Lakers saw four different players find the back of the net and Danika Ranger post a 27-save shutout for the victory.
Brooklyn Irwin scored what would turn out to the game-winner in the second period after a scoreless first and Sam Strassburger, Robyn Degagne and Marilyn Fortin all scored in the third to put the game away.
Kaley Tienhaara, Maria Dominico, Zosia Davis and Brianna Gaffney all hit the scoresheet, earning assists.
Ranger was perfect in net, finishing with 27 saves for her second win and second shutout of the season.
Source: nulakers.ca
Waterloo 3 Toronto 2
The Warriors women's hockey team picked up their fifth straight win, topping the Varsity Blues 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in Toronto.
Three different goal scorers found twine while Stephanie Sluys (Clinton/) did her thing in between the pipes as Waterloo improved to 5-1-0 on the season.
The win catapulted the black and gold to second spot in the OUA with 14 points.
Scoring for the Warriors was Maryn Caragata (Etobicoke/), Cynthia Cavanagh (Scarborough/), and Angela MacDonald(Kitchener/). Overall eight different Warriors earned a point in the victory. Sluys made 14 saves for her third win of the season. The fourth year netminder now has a goals against average of 1.01 (4th in OUA) and save percentage of 9.56 (6th in OUA).
Source: athletics.uwaterloo.ca
Queen’s 3 Windsor 2
WINDSOR, Ont. (November 11, 2017) - The No.10 Queen's Gaels (5-2-0-1) won their fifth straight game with a shootout victory at Windsor (0-1-6-1) on a clinching goal from Katrina Manoukarakis(Scarborough, Ont.).
GAME FLOW
Makenzy Arsenault (Whitby, Ont.) got the start between the pipes for the Gaels this afternoon, and she was busy in the opening period. The Lancers had 17 shots in the opening frame, and Arsenault was able to stop 16 that she faced. The lone goal came from the stick of Danielle Butler at the 16:00-minute mark to put the Lancers in front 1-0.
The Gaels were able to find the scoresheet themselves in the second frame providing some support for their netminder. At 8:45 in the second, Taylor Hicks (Whitby, Ont.) was able to deposit her second of the season with assists going to Addi Halladay (North Augusta, Ont.) and Kaylie Dennis (London, Ont.). The Gaels then took the lead for the first time in the game thanks to Hailey Wilson (Pickering, Ont.) who beat Lancers netminder Molly Jenkins for her first of the season.
After the Lancers were able to score a late equalizer in the third period on a goal from Teah Burke, the game was sent into overtime.
After neither team was able to score in the extra period despite many great chances and eight shots from Queen's, the game headed to a shootout.
In the shootout, Halladay scored for Queen's, and Muna Fadel found the back of the net for Windsor. Both team's second shooters were stopped and the Lancers third shooter Emily Bowman was also stopped by Arsenault. Manoukarakis stepped up for the Gaels and sealed the victory with a quick wrist shot above the glove of Jenkins.
Source: gogaelsgo.com
UOIT 1 Western 3
LONDON, Ont. – Special teams proved to be the difference on Saturday night, as the Western Mustangs scored three power play goals in a 3-1 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Saturday night at Thompson Arena.
"We got three power play goals, which certainly helped build momentum, especially in the third period," said Mustangs head coach Kelly Paton. "A lot of kill situations in the second half of the game, so the girls did a good job there on getting clears and not allowing them to generate any momentum off their 5-on-4s."
With the win the Mustangs improve to 4-1-1-1 on the year and are in sole possession of second place in the OUA standings, while the Ridgebacks now sit at 2-2-4-1.
April Clark, Evra Levesque, and Rachel Armstrong provided the Mustangs offence on Saturday night. Clark's goal marks her fifth of the season, putting her into a tie for first place on the OUA goal scoring leaderboard. Katie Heath tallied the Ridgebacks lone goal in the loss.
Western limited the Ridgebacks to 22 shots on net, only allowing one puck to slip past Mustang goaltender Tareya Webster during her second game of the season.
"I'm feeling such support when I'm going to the net, and obviously I'm grateful to have the opportunity from my coach to play," said Webster. "I honestly just love playing hockey and I love playing it in back with the team I have, so it's really great just to have that opportunity to play."
With three and a half minutes left in the first period, a quick shot off a pass and into the corner of the net gave Clark the first goal of the game.
Unwilling to let Western keep the lead for long, UOIT got on the board with 25 seconds left, to end the frame in a 1-1 tie.
Neither team could break the tie in a penalty-heavy second period. The back and forth play extended the deadlock until six minutes into the final frame when Evra Levesque scored 18 seconds into a Mustang power play.
Armstrong then added the insurance marker midway through the third to give the Mustangs a 3-1 win.
Western has one more game on the schedule this week, as they'll take on the first place Queen's Gaels on Sunday.
"We know Queen's is top of our league right now, so we expect them to be hard on pucks and compete well around battle situations. So for us, just managing the puck well and supporting and making sure we get the pucks deep so we can establish a fore-check early," she listed as goals to secure their third win in a row.
The Mustangs will be back on home ice when they face Queen's tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. Tune in to OUA.tv to catch the action live.
Source: westernmustangs.ca
November 12, 2017
Nipissing 0 Guelph 5
GUELPH – The habits are being established and the results are following. The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team played one of its best games of the season in a 5-0 demolition of the Nipissing Lakers at Gryphon Centre Arena Sunday afternoon.
The two-time defending OUA champions were virtually flawless in winning for the fourth consecutive time and third straight by way of shutout. Guelph has gone 10 periods without allowing a goal, the last time an opponent scored coming in the second period of a 2-1 home win over Windsor on Nov. 3.
"It's not just a complete game but two complete games back-to-back, which we really needed," said head coach Rachel Flanagan, referencing Saturday's efficient 2-0 win over Laurentian.
"Our goalies are making the saves they need to make and our D have just really cleaned up the front of the net. A lot of credit to them for buying in and lifting sticks to make it hard to get a second puck, if there is one."
Captain Kaitlin Lowy scored her OUA-leading sixth tally of the season for Guelph (5-3-0), while Claire Merrick, Kristen Jay, Kelly Gribbons and Miranda Lantz all had a goal each. Katherine Baileyand Mallory Young chipped in two assists apiece.
Valerie Lamenta stopped all 21 shots she faced. The Montreal, QC native came up big early in the second period, keeping her right pad down firmly on the ice as a couple Laker players swiped away at a puck in the crease. Moments later, the former U SPORTS Player of the Year stood tall as Nipissing forward Jetta Derenoski came in alone from the left circle and tried to beat Lamenta high.
She showed her incredible composure late in the second period, stopping Jade Gauthier in close and then denying another wide-open Laker from the low slot to keep it 2-0 Guelph. And Lamenta was extra sharp in the dying moments as Nipissing threw everything at her trying to spoil the shutout.
"Val played really well today," said Flanagan, praising both of her netminders for their stellar play during the goalless streak. "She earned her shutout for sure."
The Gryphons made life difficult for the Lakers' Danika Ranger. Ranger has been one of the elite goaltenders in the league early in the season, entering the day ranked second in the OUA in save percentage (.967) and third in goals against average (0.82).
"We knew that this was a goalie we weren't probably going to score on with a point-blank shot so we needed to get some traffic in front of her and bang home some rebounds," said Flanagan.
It was the first of two games this season between last year's McCaw Cup finalists, a contest the Gryphons won 6-1 for their second straight OUA title. And Guelph seemed to pick it up from when they last met, coming out flying and establishing a solid forecheck on the first shift of the game. The Gryphons were given an excellent opportunity when the Lakers took a four-minute penalty for contact to the head – and they paid for it quickly. Lowy gathered a loose puck around the crease and tucked it in behind Ranger 4:19 into the game for what proved to be the game-winning goal.
In addition to taking over the OUA goal-scoring lead, Lowy's power-play marker was her third of the year, tying her with two other players atop the conference. But the fourth-year Toronto, ON native also showed off her multi-dimensional game, unselfishly dropping to block a shot on a Nipissing power play late in the second period.
Flanagan said that she believed Lowy's time with a U SPORTS All-star team at the Hockey Canada Summer Showcase in Calgary this past August has helped the talented forward elevate her game.
"The opportunity to play against some of development level girls and watch them in fitness testing and training is really driving her to be a little better every day and try new things," the coach said. "Kaitlin was given the 'C' this year and she's really trying to bring the team along. She's inspired everyone else and she's not the only one leading that way. Her game is a bit more complete than it's ever been."
Merrick would make it 2-0 Guelph 7:10 into the second period when she went hard to the net right up the middle of the ice and put a rebound in behind Ranger with a quick shot. Jay added a third when she redirected a shot on an odd-man rush that flipped high into the air and over Ranger early in the third period.
Gribbons extended the lead to 4-0 on a one-time blast through Ranger's five-hole at 9:42 of the third, and Lantz finished the scoring with an empty netter at 15:53 as the Lakers pulled Ranger early for an extra attacker to try and get one past Lamenta.
Source: gryphons.ca
Laurentian 1 Brock 3
The Brock University women's hockey team defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs by the score of 3-1 Sunday afternoon at the Seymour Hannah Centre.
The Badgers opened the scoring on a power play goal from Maggie Spratt-Mallick which was assisted by Brenna Murphy. Special teams have been an early strong suit for the Badgers. After this goal by Spratt-Mallick the Badgers are fourth in the OUA in power play goals and first in power play goals against.
In the second period is when Laurentian began to show their frustration. An early penalty against Brynn O'Dwyer put the Badgers on the advantage. The Voyageurs were able to kill the power play, but seconds after it expired Amanda Ieradi scored to put the Badgers up 2-0.
In the third, the Voyageurs came out of the locker room with force and scored to cut the deficit in half, 2-1. However this is as close as Laurentian would get. With the empty net and a minute and ten seconds to play Brock's Hunter Accursi scored on an assist from Annie Berg to seal the win.
In goal, Brock starter Jensen Murphy stood strong stopping 35 of 36 shots she faced for the home victory.
Next up the Badgers will host Guelph at the Seymour Hannah Centre on November 18th. This is a pivotal opportunity to create separation in a clogged top of the OUA standings.
Source: gobadgers.ca
Queen’s 4 Western 0
LONDON, Ont. (November 12, 2017) – The No.10 Queen's Gaels (6-2-0-1) defeated the Western Mustangs (4-1-2-1) 4-0 on Sunday afternoon behind a strong goaltending performance from Stephanie Pascal (Sudbury, Ont.). Pascal picked up her second shutout of the season in the win, recording 29 saves.
GAME FLOW
The first period was an all-out attack by the Gaels as they peppered Mustangs goalie Carmen Lasis with 19 shots, while Pascal faced just three shots. Despite heavily outshooting Western, Hailey Wilson(Pickering, Ont.) was the only Gael who was able to beat Lasis, when she opened the scoring at 15:56 of the period.
Queen's was able to extend their lead in the second frame when Katrina Manoukarakis (Scarborough, Ont.) scored her team leading sixth goal of the season at 8:38. Addi Halladay (North Augusta, Ont.) also scored to stretch the Gaels lead to 3-0. Pascal was solid in the period as she turned aside all 12 of the Mustangs shot attempts.
The Mustangs put 14 shots towards Pascal in the third period but she stood tall in keeping them off the scoreboard. Emily Gervais closed out the scoring for the Gaels at 15:31 of the third period, making the final score 4-0.
Pascal picked up her OUA leading sixth win of the season while Lasis was charged with the loss in net for the Mustangs.
Source: gogaelsgo.com
York 2 Laurier 4
WATERLOO, Ont. (November 13, 2017) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women’s hockey team snapped their five-game losing streak to open the season on Sunday night as they dispatched the York Lions by a score of 4-2 at the Waterloo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Second year forward Aynsley Harrison of Corunna, Ont., led the way for the Hawks (1-0-4-1) as she scored a powerplay marker before assisting on Madison MacCulloch’s (Toronto) game-winning goal early in the third period.
Rookie Emily Visser of Caledonia, Ont., and Jaden Head of Whitby, Ont., tallied Laurier’s other markers with Visser’s goal marking the first of her career with the purple and gold
Defenceman Jamie Watson of Georgetown, Ont., chipped in with three assists while Visser also tallied an assist for a two-point evening.
Christina Chin of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Caitlin Lee of Madoc, Ont., replied for the Lions (2-0-6-1).
In goal, Hannah Miller of Georgetown, Ont., registered her first career OUA victory as she turned aside 28 of the 30 shots she faced. Miller continues to lead the conference in save percentage this season, sitting at 0.967 through three starts, while she ranks second in goals against average at 0.97.
Lauren Dubie of London, Ont., took the loss in between the pipes for the Lions, finishing with 18 saves.
Source: laurierathletics.com