February 26, 2016

Hurrell plays hero as Golden Hawks force Game 3 with Blues

WATERLOO, Ont. (February 26, 2016) – Jessie Hurrell scored a powerplay goal just over five minutes into overtime as the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women’s hockey team defeated the No. 4 Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0 in Game 2 of their OUA Quarter-final series on Friday night at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.

Laurier

Toronto

Final

Laurier

Toronto

(Photo: Kha Vo)

WATERLOO, Ont. (February 26, 2016) – Jessie Hurrell scored a powerplay goal just over five minutes into overtime as the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks women's hockey team defeated the No. 4 Toronto Varsity Blues 1-0 in Game 2 of their OUA Quarter-final series on Friday night at the Waterloo Recreation Complex.

Hurrell, a fifth year forward from Palgrave, Ont., extended the Hawks' season and forced a Game 3 in the best-of-three series when she cut out into the slot before roofing a shot over Toronto goalie Valencia Yorandov of Port Coquitlam, B.C., to send the Laurier bench into a frenzy.

For Hurrell, the goal was her ninth career tally in the postseason in 31 games.

Facing elimination on home ice, the Hawks, the seventh seed in the OUA, got off to a sluggish start as Toronto, the second seed, came out looking to end the series in a sweep. The Blues outshot Laurier 12-3 in the opening 20 minutes of the contest but couldn't generate any high-quality scoring opportunities and the game remained scoreless.

Over the next 40 minutes of play, Laurier slowly took the game over and had a glorious chance in both the second and third periods to open the scoring. First, midway through the second period, rookie Madison MacCulloch of Toronto, picked up a loose puck and broke in all alone but Yordanov just got the knob of her stick on the shot to deflect it over the net.

Then, in the third period, Robyn Degagne of North Bay, Ont., undressed a couple of Blues' defenders but her shot rang off Yordanov's mask and stayed out.

With momentum on their side heading into overtime, Laurier was rewarded with their third powerplay of the night when Toronto's Meagan O'Brien of Brampton, Ont., was sent off for slashing.

On the ensuing man-advantage, the Hawks worked the puck around to Hurrell who made no mistake to send Laurier back to Toronto for Game 3.

Amanda Smith of Burlington, Ont., was solid in goal for Laurier as she made 27 saves to record the shutout. For Smith, it's her fifth playoff shutout in 17 career games.

As for Yordanov, she took the loss after stopping 20 of the 21 shots she faced.

The two teams will now head back to Varsity Arena for the third and deciding game in the series on Sunday, February 28. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv.

Source: Laurier Golden Hawks