Rutherford propels Rams to first win
TORONTO - When the final buzzer sounded, the look on Alex Armstrong’s face said it all Thursday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The Ryerson women’s hockey goaltender lifted her helmet, let out a huge sigh and then smiled as her teammates skated over to celebrate their 3-2 win over the Brock Badgers. The victory was their first after an 0-4-0-1 start to the season and an enormous weight off of their shoulders.
TORONTO - When the final buzzer sounded, the look on Alex Armstrong's face said it all Thursday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The Ryerson women's hockey goaltender lifted her helmet, let out a huge sigh and then smiled as her teammates skated over to celebrate their 3-2 win over the Brock Badgers. The victory was their first after an 0-4-0-1 start to the season and an enormous weight off of their shoulders.
"It's a big relief, that's for sure," said Rams' head coach Lisa Haley after the game. "You can only ride the 'we're playing well, it's only a matter of time' speech for so long… It's great to see that we got rewarded for a good effort."
"We've been battling hard in all of our games so far," added third year defenceman Cassie Sharp (Carleton Place, Ont.). "Today the lucky bounces went our way."
Sharp was an offensive catalyst for Ryerson all night and got things going early. While on a 5-on-3 powerplay midway through the first period, she fed a perfect pass from the left point to the stick of Blair Malthaner (Toronto, Ont.) in the slot. She redirected it past Brock's rookie goaltender Jensen Murphy to make it 1-0 for the Rams. The goal was Malthaner's second in as many games. She scored shorthanded in a 3-1 loss to the Western Mustangs in London last weekend.
Brock countered quickly. A little over a minute after Ryerson took the lead, Armstrong (Toronto, Ont.) sent a pass to Jessica Hartwick (Brampton, Ont.) behind the Rams' net. Brock's Sophie Herbert stripped the puck from her, skated in front and shot it past a sprawling Armstrong. The shorthanded goal evened the score at one.
Midway through the second, Emma Rutherford (Kanata, Ont.) finally broke through for Ryerson. She fired a hard wrist shot past Murphy's glove and into the top corner to restore the Rams' lead. After a nine goal, 14 point campaign last season, the marker was Rutherford's first goal and point of the year. She wasn't done just yet though.
With six minutes remaining in the third period, she found the back of the net again. Sarah McGilvray (Stouffville, Ont.) centered a puck from behind the Badgers' net and after a few chances in front, Rutherford slid a shot between Murphy's legs while she fell to the ice to extend Ryerson's lead to 3-1.
"Emma Rutherford is someone that we knew it was just a matter of time before she scored," said Haley. "She's just too gifted offensively and has been creating some great chances the last couple of games… I'm really happy for her that she got that monkey off her back."
Brock refused to roll over and were rewarded with 1:16 remaining in the game. On a late powerplay, Christina Ieradi redirected a Brittney Cabral slap pass between the pipes to make things interesting. The Rams didn't panic though and came away with the 3-2 victory in regulation.
Armstrong made 21 saves for the win and was steady as per usual. At the other end of the ice, Murphy surrendered three goals on 31 shots in the losing effort.
Ryerson has a two week break before their next game. They don't play again until they face off against the Waterloo Warriors (3-2-0-1) on November 13th at the Mattamy Athletic Centre. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
"I think right now is an opportunity for the players to focus on academics," said Haley about the breather in the schedule. "I think this break comes at the right time for us."
