The Blues faced a gritty Brock University Badgers team on January 10 at Varsity Arena, losing 2–4. Coming off a shoot-out win against the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East’s leading Queen’s Gaels the night before, the hard-fought game slipped out of reach for U of T on an empty-net goal in the last 11 seconds of the third period.
What Happened
Both teams opened the game hot in the first period. The Blues got an early power-play opportunity 80 seconds into the game, but were unable to get the puck past Badgers goalie Megan Thiessen. Play moved back and forth between zones for much of the first period as both teams battled hard for a scoring chance.
Badgers forward Rayna Franklin opened the scoring on a quick rebound at the Blues’ net at 6:26 minutes. Although the Blues pushed back offensively, they struggled to organize strong set-ups against a ceaseless Badgers defence. The period wrapped up 0–1 with an early lead for Brock.
Badgers forward Kaedyn Gomes scored another goal less than two minutes into the second period, putting them up 0–2. The Blues continued to press on with their forecheck, but faced similar difficulties generating scoring chances against the Badgers as they did in the first.
At 15:35 minutes, forward Taylor Delahey broke through and showed some serious puck-handling skill to get the Blues their first goal of the game with an assist from defenseman Madison Tiro. However, the Badgers answered quickly, with forward Taylor Wolsey widening the gap to two goals and finishing the period 1–3 for the Badgers.
The Blues came back in the third period with a locked-in defence, fighting hard to keep the Badgers off the puck. Forward Abby Whitworth, who leads the OUA in goals scored, got her 13th of the season on a power-play with assists from twin forwards Ashley and Taylor Delahey. With the score at 2–3, the game looked to be in the reach of the Blues as they fought hard to tie the game.
They consistently broke up the Badgers’ scoring chances and engaged in tough battles at the boards for the puck. With the last minute of play approaching and the score staying the same, the Blues pulled Goalie Carlee Vance in favour of a sixth attacker. At 19:49 minutes, however, the Badgers capitalized on the empty net as the puck slipped through off a face-off in the Blues’ zone. The game finished with a final score of 2–4 in favour of the Badgers.
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