FRIDAY HOCKEY ROUNDUP: Gaels capture Carr-Harris Cup
Women’s Hockey
Laurier Golden Hawks @ UOIT Ridgebacks
OSHAWA, Ont. (February 2, 2012) - With only three games remaining in the regular season for the Wilfrid Laurier women's hockey team, the No. 1 squad in the country continued its outstanding season with a 5-2 victory over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Thursday night.
The purple and gold struck first in the game when defenceman Fiona Lester of Peterburough, Ont., capitalized on a UOIT elbowing penalty to score her second goal of the season. The Ridgebacks would even the score before the end of the first as Kayla Jardin of Toronto, scored her second goal of the season with under three minutes remaining in the frame.
The second period saw the Golden Hawks dominate the Ridgebacks in the shot department, but the Laurier was only able to pot one goal, with Freiburger netting her 15th goal of the season to put Laurier ahead by one going into the third.
Abby Rainsberry of Petrolia, Ont., gave Laurier a two goal edge in the third period with her 10th goal on the year. Katherine Shirriff of Carrying Place, Ont., and Caitlin Muirhead of Waterloo, Ont., both notched their 21st points of the season by drawing assists on Rainsberry's marker.
Freiburger added an insurance marker when she put in her second goal of the game and 16th of the season midway through the third.
UOIT pulled back with two goals as Breanne Hadley of Belleville, Ont., scored her third goal of the season. That was as close as the Ridgebacks would get, however, as Brittany Crago of Stouffville, Ont., scored her seventh goal of the season on an empty net.
Laurier (22-0-1) will look to win their 16th straight game when they travel to Kingston to take on Queen's (11-8-3) on Friday night. UOIT (9-14-0) travels to Waterloo (8-10-4) on Friday to take on the Warriors.
Brock Badgers @ Guelph Gryphons
GUELPH, Ont. – The Brock University women's hockey team (11-11-1 OUA) answered three times in the third period to knock off the No. 6 ranked Guelph Gryphons (17-5-1 OUA) by the score of 5-3 Thursday night at the Gryphon Centre Arena.
Guelph opened the scoring just 22 seconds into the first period as Kaitlyn Mora (Guelph. Ont.) and Erin Small (Pickering, Ont.) setup captain Tamara Bell (Guelph. Ont.) for her fifth goal of the season and 40th of her career.
The Gryphons would take a 2-0 lead at 8:54 of the first when Kristen Nixon (Durham, Ont.) setup Jessica Pinkerton (Oshawa, Ont.) for her 14th goal of the campaign.
Brock rookie Laura Neu (Ayr, Ont.) would answer at 12:56 of the first period on the powerplay, cutting the lead to one. Senior Amber Wilson (Brantford, Ont.) and junior Sara Brady (Thunder Bay, Ont.) added the assists.
Before the end of the first period at 18:24, the Badgers would tie it 2-2, as Neu beat Guelph goaltender Stephanie Nehring (Oshawa, Ont.) for her fourth of the season and second of the contest.
At 4:23 of the second period, Guelph would go to work on the powerplay, as Jenna Lanzarotta (Mississauga, Ont.) beat Brock freshman goaltender Chantal Bicket (Oshawa, Ont.) to make it 3-2. Pinkerton and Jacky Sollis (West Vancouver, BC) added the assists.
At the 7:16 mark of the third period, Brock junior Rachel Piotrowski (Waterloo, Ont.) added her first goal of the season with the shorthanded marker to tie the game 3-3. Brady added the assist.
Just over two minutes later at 9:41, the Badgers would take a 4-3 lead as sophomore Katie Howlett (Burlington, Ont.) found the back of the net for her sixth of the campaign. Sophomore Leigh Vanderveen (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) and Bicket were credited with the assists.
Howlett added the insurance marker with an empty netter at 19:30.
In goal, Bicket registered 23 saves for her ninth victory of the season. Nehring turned aside 20 shots in the loss.
The Badgers next action is Sunday, February 5th at 2 pm when they travel to Toronto to take on the York University Lions (12-9-1 OUA).
Source: Badgers Athletics
RMC Paladins @ Queen’s Gaels
KINGSTON, Ont. (February 2, 2012) - Kelly Jackson of Toronto scored two goals, including the game winner, and added an assist as the Queen's Gaels (13-10-2) topped the RMC Paladins (3-21-2) by a 4-1 score in the 26th edition of the Carr-Harris Cup in front of 2,576 fans at the K-Rock Centre.
The first period was a slow, back and forth frame for the two teams as neither seemed to establish as rhythm in the offensive zone. With both teams using a dump and chase system for the majority of the period, scoring opportunities were limited to scrambles in the slot and neither side could break the deadlock. They entered the first period tied at zero.
The Gaels were the first to score midway through the second period as Jordan Mirwaldt of Winnipeg slid a backhand shot past Andrew Flemming of Quispamsis, N.B., after the puck took a deflection off of Jordan Soquila of Maple Ridge, B.C. Mirwaldt set the play up when he dropped a pass for David Chubb of St. George's, Nfld. Chubb's slap shot took the ricochet off of Soquila to Mirwaldt who slipped the puck past a diving Flemming with a nice move.
Jackson added to the Gaels lead with the eventual game winner as he spun away from a defender at the point with the Gaels attacking. As Jackson stepped out from the sideboards and into the faceoff circle, he beat Flemming with a hard wrister over his glove hand and just under the crossbar.
The Gaels two goal lead was short-lived as the Paladins responded off of the ensuing draw. After the faceoff a Paladins dump in caught Queen's flat footed on the backcheck. As a Gaels defender sprawled in front of the goal crease after catching an edge on the ice, Matthew Pinder of Calgary put a seeing-eye wrist shot past fellow Calgary native Riley Whitlock who was screened by the downed defender. The goal came just seven seconds after Jackson had doubled the Gaels lead and the Paladins entered the frame with momentum in their favour.
Queen's came out strong after the second intermission and restored their two goal lead shortly after. Tyler Moore of Winnipeg beat Paladins goaltender Matthew Beirnes of Barrie, Ont., who played the third period for RMC. Jackson, who assisted on Moore's eighth goal of the season, scored the clincher seven minutes later on a looping shot which bounced off of Beirnes and into the goal. The Gaels came on strong to close out the game, outshooting the Paladins 15-9, but couldn't add to their lead while Whitlock held down the fort in the backend, stopping all nine RMC shots.
The win was the Gaels fourth of the season over the Paladins and second consecutive win by a 4-1 margin. In the Carr-Harris Cup, the win gives the Gaels five consecutive victories in the series and moves their record to 16-8-2 all-time.
"It was a great atmosphere and obviously a playoff situation any time you play RMC," said Gaels captain Jonathon Lawrance of Steinbach, Man. "Playing in a game like this it's easy to get fired up, especially with a great crowd like we had tonight."
Whitlock continued his stellar season with a 24 save performance on 25 shots from the Paladins. He outduelled the RMC duo of Flemming and Beirnes who combined to make 35 saves on 39 shots from Queen's. With the win, the Gaels move into sole possession of sixth place in the OUA with 28 points.
"The two points were the biggest part of the game for us tonight," said Jackson, the Gaels MVP of the game.
The Gaels will not have long to savour their victory as they take on the UQTR Patriotes in Trois-Rivières, Que. on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm.
They will, however, have possession of the Carr-Harris Cup until next year's edition - the 27th in series history - as Jackson noted, "You really learn from the veterans about how much this game means and how important this rivalry is."
WATERLOO, Ont., (February 2, 2012) - The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks men's hockey team (8-16-1) was coming off two losses going into Thursday night's game. They were hosting York University (12-10-4), a team that had shut them out in their last meeting.
In the second it was Stothers turn for a goal to earn his third point of the game while Good earned an assist on the goal. The Hawks would the hold onto the three goal lead for most of the third period until York was able to capitalize on a power play late in the third to ruin the shutout for Ryan Daniels of Pickering, Ont.
Even though they were ahead for almost the entire game, Laurier was outshot 35-19 in the game. Daniels was just under two and a half minutes from registering his first shutout of the season when York scored. Even without the shutout he played strong, making 34 saves.
The Hawks will look to earn another win Saturday when they travel to Guelph to take on the Gryphons (8-12-5)
OUA SCHEDULE & RESULTS
