Women’s Hockey concluded a successful season yesterday, defeating Guelph 3-2 in double overtime to finish third in the Ontario University Athletic championship tournament.
The bronze finish came a day after the Blues (15-5-3-1) were defeated 2-1 by Queen’s (14-7-1-2) in their semifinal Saturday. Both games were held in Western’s Thompson Arena.
Hard-fought bronze
In yesterday’s third-place game, U of T took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a tight wrist shot by forward Laura Foster. Guelph (8-11-4-1) committed an early penalty and Foster made them pay, netting the one-woman advantage score at 1:04.
After opening the period with the early power play tally, the Blues continued to pepper Gryphon goalie Aleisha Lusk, cranking out 11 shots at the masked Guelph guardian.
The Blues definitely seemed the more eager of the two squads to avenge their semifinal loss, as U of T out-skated the Gryphons defensively. They limited their opponents to five shots, with only one of them giving Blues goalie Stephanie Lockert any trouble. An open Bianca Kitts of Guelph forced U of T’s stalwart between the pipes into a nice kick-save near the end of the first period.
In the following period, however, the Gryphons found their second wind, forcing 10 shots on the Blues defence. Lockert was brilliant in toe-stopping Guelph defender Carla D’Angelo low blast early, but the Gryphons managed to slip two by the Blues’ net-minder. At 7:46 forward Jacklyn Sollis beat Lockert glove-side, launching the tying tally in the right top corner. Guelph struck again in the closing minute of the middle period, when a nifty assist from Sollis found forward Sarah McClinchey before her shot cracked the Gryphons to a 2-1 lead.
The third period was an even-minded mid-ice conflict, as the two teams battled between the blue lines for positioning. U of T forward Justine Todd finally evened the score, putting one past Lusk at 10:54.
Overtime thriller
With Todd’s score holding up, the game went into extra time, and U of T found their opening period muster as they swarmed around Guelph, holding the Gryphons to one shot. None of them could foil Lusk’s masterful net-minding, as she kept the Blues at bay with five of her 38 saves coming in the first overtime.
Lusk was even better in the fifth period. One early stop had her walling in a U of T shot by defender Mary Modeste. Forward Annie Del Guidice challenged the Gryphon’s goalie again, but her open look from the slot was quickly smothered to keep the score deadlocked at one.
A questionable penalty called on Guelph with 10 minutes remaining in the second overtime turned the tide for the Blues. With the one-player advantage, U of T was able to blast from afar and close in on the rebounds. One minute after the penalty started, defender Sarah Poirier regained a block off Lusk and dished off to open forward Emily Patry. Patry took the set-up and flicked in the one-timer, giving the Blues the win and the bronze.
Semifinal swoon
In Saturday’s game, the Blues came out in a fury, dropping 17 shots on Queen’s. Yet it was the Golden Gaels that came out unscathed, as forward Victoria Kaufman sent one past Lockert to put Queen’s ahead 1-0 at the close of the first.
Kaufman would add her second in the middle period, as the Golden Gaels made the most of their shots, scoring twice out of 11. The Blues would finally score their first in the third period, as Patry led an assist from Janine Davies into the net, but it was the only shot of 33 that would stand in the semifinal.
The loss left the Blues 1-3 this season against Queen’s, who went on to lose 5-1 in the OUA final against top-seed Laurier (19-2-3-0).
