AROUND OUA: Varsity Blues hand Gryphons first loss of season
Guelph, ON - The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team dominated the competition throughout a memorable first week of the OUA regular season. But that momentum, built after back-to-back shutout victories, came to a halt Saturday when the University of Toronto Varsity Blues entered the Gryphon Centre Arena and handed the hosts a tough 3-1 defeat.
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Varsity Blues hand Gryphons first loss of season
Guelph, ON - The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team dominated the competition throughout a memorable first week of the OUA regular season. But that momentum, built after back-to-back shutout victories, came to a halt Saturday when the University of Toronto Varsity Blues entered the Gryphon Centre Arena and handed the hosts a tough 3-1 defeat.
U of G (2-1-0) came into the afternoon contest with two virtually perfect performances through its first pair of wins: seven goals for and none against, with shutouts from both Stephanie Nehring and Valerie Lamenta. The Gryphons looked on pace to extend their torrid start after second-year winger Kaitlin Lowy tallied early in the game but U of T roared back with three unanswered goals, to ensure a big road win.
Trailing by two late in the game, the Gryphons got a power play opportunity and pulled Nehring (22 saves) to go six-on-four but they were unable to get a goal back.
The pace was frenetic from the opening faceoff as the teams combined for three goals by the midway point of the first period. U of G jumped all over the visitors and took a 1-0 lead just 3:31 into the game. Christine Grant dropped a perfect feed to a trailing Lowy, who glided into the slot and lifted a shot past Toronto goaltender Valencia Yordanov. Jessica Pinkerton also picked up an assist.
Lowy's effort extended the Gryphons streak of scoring at least one goal in a period to seven straight frames, though that was eventually snapped after they came up empty in the second.
The pretty goal ended up being the lone highlight for Guelph. Trailing 1-0, the Varsity Blues answered quickly with two in a span of just 2:21. Jacqueline Scheffel got free in the left circle and wired a wrist shot that was too tough for Nehring to handle at 6:45. The Toronto goal ended Guelph's shutout streak at 126:45 from the start of the season.
Toronto maintained the pressure and took the lead at 9:06 when they got deep in the Guelph zone, allowing Sonja Weidenfelder to attack the net and slide a low backhander past Nehring, which proved to be the eventual winner.
Guelph played a strong second period but was unable to get into an offensive flow and create many scoring chances. The Varsity Blues took advantage. Julia Szulewska's goal with just 1:22 left before the intermission extended the Toronto lead to two.
U of G hit the road next Saturday for a game with the Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Voyageurs keep rolling with win over Warriors
The Laurentian Voyageurs women's hockey team stayed hot on Saturday afternoon, with a 2-1 shootout win against the Waterloo Warriors. The win was Laurentian's third in a row and second straight at home to open the season.
Waterloo started quickly but the first period was a physical and defensive afar. Neither team generated a great scoring chance as the first period ended scoreless. In the second, Laurentian came out flying, creating a lot of shots and chances as the Voyageurs were all over the Warriors. However, it was the Warriors who would score on the counter attack and broke the deadlock. Rebecca Rutherford had the goal for the Warriors, going high, glove side on Emily Toffoli as the Warriors took a 1-0 lead into the third.
The Voyageurs came out pushing for the equalizer in the third but were held in check until midway through the period. A little over halfway through the period, Ellery Veerman potted the tying goal for the Voyageurs with a shot high over the glove of Stephanie Sluys. Taylor Weber and Morgan McCann provided the assists on the big goal which tied the game. The Voyageurs pushed for another goal to win it in regulation but the Warriors held strong and the game was off to overtime.
No one could find the net in the first overtime so we were off to a second overtime period. Despite the 3 on 3 format, once again neither team was able to score and the game was too be decided in the shootout.
In the shootout, rookies Brooklyn Davis and Morgan McCann both scored for the Voyageurs and Emily Toffoli shut the door as the Voyageurs walked away with the 2-1 win.
The win was the Voyageurs third straight to start the year, and they are proving they can win tight games. All three games have been decided by one goal. With a win in overtime, regulation and the shootout the Voyageurs are finding different ways to get the job done each night. The team is on the road next week, taking on York and Brock as they look to continue the hot start.
In a great scene after the game, the Voyageurs skated with young local girls to celebrate World Girls Hockey Day. It was a nice moment, seeing the current Voyageurs skating with girls who, maybe one day, will aspire to be Voyageurs themselves.
Source: Laurentian Voyageurs
Lakers still looking for first win
It's pretty safe to say the start of the season hasn't gone the way the Nipissing Lakers women's hockey team would have liked.
While there have been positives and glimpses of the team that gave the eventual CIS champions all they could handle last year, the Lakers are winless through three games and only have a single point to show for it.
Offence has been a bit of an issue to this point, with the team scoring just two goals so far.
Saturday, the Laurier Golden Hawks skated away with a 3-0 victory in a physical matchup at Memorial Gardens.
The Hawks scored a goal in each period including two by North Bay native Robyn DeGagne to claim the victory.
The third goal, assisted by DeGagne came into an empty net with just over a minute to go.
Jackie Rochefort, who made 24 saves in the loss, had been pulled for the extra attacker in an attempt to tie the game.
And with a sixth player on the ice, the Lakers did generate chances, but were unable to score.
The officiating, while not to blame, wasn't helping out any, handing out a few iffy penalties, as well as blowing a quick whistle while Nipissing appeared to have scored late in the third period.
Kaley Tienhaara seemed to picked up a loose puck and tap it in, but the play had been blown dead despite the pick still being loose in the blue paint.
Regardless, things aren't clicking at the moment for the Lakers, but with 21 games left in the regular season, there is no reason to panic.
With so much talent on the team, it's a matter of everything gelling and things will improve, most likely sooner rather than later.
Nipissing hits the road for four straight game beginning with matchups against York and Brock next weekend.
Source: Nipissing Lakers
Larocca scores third goal in two nights to lead Gaels over Lions 2-1
KINGSTON, Ont. (October 10, 2015) - The Queen's Gaels (1-0-0-0) finished off the York Lions (0-2-0-0) with a 2-1 win on Saturday night at the Memorial Centre in Kingston for their second win in as many nights.
The first period started off with the Gaels heading to the powerplay early on after Dana Somerville took a two minute penalty for body checking. York killed off the penalty and the Gaels were left still searching for their first powerplay tally on the season. They got another chance as the Lions found themselves in penalty trouble again but the Gaels once again could not capitalize.
At 9:24 of the period they used even-strength to get on the board as Megan Farrell (Barrie, Ont.) netted her first goal of the season beating the Lions starting goaltender Megan Lee. Clare McKellar (London, Ont.) and Mary Coughlin (Amherstburg, Ont.) added the assists on the goal. Queen's finished the period outshooting York 17-5 but were only able to find the back of the net once.
In the second period York jumped on Queen's only 20 seconds into the period. Stephanie Dovaston was able to beat Gaels starting netminder Caitlyn Lahonen (Saskatoon, Sask.) for her second goal of the season. Queen's was able to respond as Nadia Larocca (Mississauga, Ont.) and Kyla Crouse (Mount Brydges, Ont.) broke in on a two-on-one and Crouse fed a nice pass to Larocca who cut back to the inside and slipped the puck past Lee for the goal. Katrina Manoukarakis (Scarborough, Ont.) added the other assist on the goal, her second in as many games.
The Gaels were outshot 13 to seven in the period but were able to head to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead.
In the third the Gaels were able to hold on as Lahonen turned aside another six shots in the third period and the Gaels escaped with a 2-1 win, their second victory in as many nights. Lahonen finished with 23 saves on the 24 shots she faced. Lee stopped 30 of the 32 shots that Queen's fired her way.
Source: Queen's Gaels
UOIT drops a 3-1 decision to Brock
OSHAWA, Ont. – Compared to their home opener, the UOIT women's hockey team looked like a totally different team on Saturday night… and that was not a good thing.
Turnovers, losing battles and taking costly penalties. Those were just some of the bad habits that Justin Caruana's squad got rid of in their opening night victory over York, but let creep back in their game on Saturday night. Brock would take advantage of all of their opportunities as they skated to a 3-1 victory over the Ridgebacks at the Campus Ice Centre.
The Ridgebacks got off to a great start as Nicole Gorda (Edmonton, Alta.) beat Brock's Jensen Murphy for her first goal of the year, with Chelsea Ball (Brampton, Ont.) picking up the assist on the play. Unfortunately for the Ridgebacks, that was the lone bright spot as Brock scored three unanswered goals for the win.
Alex Finlayson would tie the game up midway through the first period, which was followed by almost 16 minutes of scoreless hockey.
Late in the second period, the two teams battled in front of the Ridgeback goal after a whistle. When the dust settled, UOIT was assessed an extra two minute minor that Brock would take full advantage of, as Kimberley Brown scored with 34 seconds left on the clock to give the Badgers their first lead of the game.
With UOIT pressing for the game-tying goal, Sophie Herbert would launch the puck down the ice and into the empty net, giving the Badgers their first win of the season.
After splitting their weekend home stand, UOIT will be on the road for two games against the Ryerson Rams (Oct. 16) and Toronto Varsity Blues (Oct. 17).
Source: UOIT Ridgebacks
