The Varsity Blues women’s hockey team hosted the York Lions on Friday night, capping off the University of Toronto’s Winterfest festivities. Alas, the Blues were stymied by a 38-save performance by York goaltender Megan Lee, losing the game 4–2.
York opened the scoring nine minutes into the game, capitalizing on a debatable hooking call, with Lions rookie forward Amy Locke finding fellow rookie Mariah Krancevich alone in front of the goal. Blues star goaltender Nicole Kesteris made the first save — a great pad stop — but was unable to block the rebound.
The goal clearly motivated the Blues, who evened the score less than a minute later. Toronto rookie Rebecca Bourgeois, who was excellent all game, found herself alone with time and space at the point and threw a perfect slap pass to Courtney Brind’Amour-McClure. Brind’Amour-McClure missed wide of the goal on the initial try, but converted the rebound off the boards past a sprawling Lee.
Three minutes into the second frame, the Blues took the lead on a bizarre play. Defender Stacey Oue put a low shot on net, which deflected first off of Blues’ forward Arden Cowley’s skate, and then off of a York defender’s stick, before sliding into the open net.
Despite the Blues controlling the bulk of the play, York managed to even the score with five minutes remaining in the period on a fantastic individual effort by defender Kristen Barbara. Beginning in her own end, Barbara skated the length of the ice before scoring short-side on Kesteris.
The third period began with great pressure by the Brind’Amour-McClure line, but it was York that scored the eventual game winner just under five minutes into the frame. Lions defender Sarai Whitty threaded a pass through the Toronto defense on a two-on-two low in the defensive zone, and Krancevich put a shot five-hole on Kesteris for her second goal of the game.
The final 15 minutes saw the Blues repeatedly shut down by Lee’s efforts, including a remarkable glove save with 35 seconds to play. The Lions added an empty–net goal in the dying seconds of the match to seal the victory.
It was a tough first home game of 2014 for a Blues squad that, only three days earlier, had been awarded a place in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport’s Top 10 rankings for the first time in over a year. Defensive–zone coverage wasn’t good enough on the first and third goals, and the offense struggled to solve Megan Lee. Consequently, the club lost to York for the first time at Varsity Arena since November 2009. It was a disappointing loss, but games like this have thankfully been the exception rather than the rule this year.
