AROUND OUA: Lee makes 43 saves in upset win over No. 2 Varsity Blues
York University Lions women's hockey goaltender Megan Lee made 43 saves to lead her team to a 1-0 shootout victory over the No. 2 nationally-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 22) at Canlan Ice Sports.
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Lee makes 43 saves in upset win over No. 2 Varsity Blues
York University Lions women's hockey goaltender Megan Lee made 43 saves to lead her team to a 1-0 shootout victory over the No. 2 nationally-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 22) at Canlan Ice Sports.
The result was Lee's second shutout of the weekend after she also blanked Ryerson on Saturday.
Through three periods, a 4-on-4 and a 3-on-3 overtime the game remained scoreless on Sunday. The Lions and Varsity Blues played a tight defensive style that allowed for no errors, which resulted in the low scoring affair.
The first period was controlled for the most part by the Lions inside the Blues blue line, but they couldn't manage to beat the stellar goaltending of Valencia Yordanov.
The second and third periods were much of the same as the first as the Lions came out with an aggressive attack and shut down the middle of the ice, limiting the high-powered Varsity Blues offence to the wings. The Varsity Blues are second in the OUA in goals per game with 2.67, but had no room to work against the defensive wall of the Lions.
Lee (Orillia, Ont.) was a dominant force between the pipes for the Lions, as she shut the door on multiple potential scoring chances.
The Lions and Varsity Blues couldn't end the game in regulation nor in overtimes, so the game was sent to a shootout, where the first shooter for the Lions was Dana Somerville (Hockley, Ont.), who took the puck at centre and with a head of speed went backhand-forehand and pulled Yordanov out of position, and with time she gently slid the puck across the goal line.
After two Varsity Blues couldn't beat Lee and a Lion miss, the third shooter for the Lions was Kristen Barbara (Mount Hope, Ont.). She darted through the middle of the ice and without any hesitation went upstairs on Yordanov to give the Lions the 1-0 win over their cross-town rivals.
The Lions are now 2-2-5-1 on the season, while the Varsity Blues fell to 5-2-1-2.
The Lions will look to continue their two-game winning streak next weekend when they welcome the UOIT Ridgebacks to Canlan Ice Sports for their last home game of 2015 on Friday night (Nov. 27) at 7pm.
Source: York Lions
Voyageurs push No. 1 Guelph to the brink
On Sunday afternoon, the Voyageurs lost in overtime to the Guelph Gryphons who are ranked first in Canada.
The Gryphons came to Laurentian riding a seven game win streak on Sunday. The Voyageurs, on a two game win streak of their own, hit the ice hungry looking to upset the top team.
The first period was somewhat calculated and defensive for both Guelph and Laurentian, as neither team wanted to relinquish the first goal. The Voyageurs successfully stifled the Guelph power play on two occasions in the first period, once killing off a 5-on-4 power play and once killing off a 5-on-3.
The first period ended tied at 0 and the game remained scoreless until four minutes into the second period. The Voyageurs had earned a power play of their own and needed only 52 seconds of the advantage to break the tie. Ellery Veerman deflected a Sara Habal blast from the blue line past Guelph goaltender Valerie Lamenta at 4:10 of the second period.
The Veerman goal seemed to light a fire underneath both teams as the play began to open up as both Laurentian and Guelph traded scoring chances up and down the ice. The Voyageurs dominated the second period and headed to the dressing room for the second intermission with a 1-0 lead and looking to complete the upset.
Top ranked Guelph could not be stopped for long however, as just over one minute into the third period Kelly Gribbons found herself alone in the slot on a pass from Averi Nooren and slid the puck through Laura Dellers legs.
Just three minutes later, Guelph took the lead on a shot from defenceman Leugh Shilton. The Voyageurs would not go down without a fight though, and began to pour it on in the third period. Chance after chance and the Voyageurs had the Gryphons pinned in their own zone.
Finally, they were rewarded when Julie Hebert, with eight minutes left, picked off a pass in the neutral zone, skated down the right wing and ripped a shot into the top corner, over the goalie's glove.
The Voyageurs would put together an excellent defensive effort in the final minute of play while Laura Deller made some important saves to keep the game tied and head to overtime.
Unfortunately, the Gryphons prevailed in overtime and negated the Voyageurs from completing the upset. Brittany St. James jumped on a lucky bounce just over the Guelph blue line and was able to beat Deller on a breakaway, to win the game 3-2.
Despite the loss, head coach Stacey Colarossi was content to earn one point against the powerful Guelph team. "It's nice to steal a point from the best team in Canada right now, but it still stings to lose."
With the point, the Voyageurs are in seventh place in the standings with 15 points. Hockey fans will be forced to wait until the new year to catch the Voyageurs in action again, as their next home game is not until January 9, when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues.
Source: Laurentian Voyageurs
Winning ways continue in come from behind victory over Hawks
The women's hockey team continued their winning ways on Sunday afternoon, earning a comeback victory to top cross-town rivals Laurier Golden Hawks 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at the CIF Arena. The win was Waterloo's fifth in a row as the black and gold improved to 8-3-1 on the season and sit in fourth spot just one spot back of second place Queen's and Western in the OUA standings.
Waterloo opened the scoring in the dying minutes of the first period as Marissa Redmond (Ajax) made a strong move to the outside and shot it against the grain to beat Hawks keeper Lauren Webber on the glove side. Redmond's third goal of the season was assisted by Paula LaGamba (Toronto) and Michelle Tanel (Toronto).
Down 1-0, Laurier found their game in the opening four minutes of the second period with three goals, chasing starting goalie Rebecca Bouwhuis (Orillia) from the net. Dollee Meigs, Madison MacCulloch and Jessie Hurrell provided the scoring, all four minutes apart and Stephanie Sluys (Clinton) came in to the net for the Warriors.
The goalie switch gave the Warriors a spark and they turned their offense back up with several quality chances. Waterloo was rewarded for their hard work at 14:15 as Rachel Marriott (Waterloo) netted a rebound goal off of a Alyssa Gee (Ajax) shot. Siobhan Hewitt-Kenda (North Vancouver) was given the second assist as Waterloo went into the second intermission down 3-2.
The Warriors continued the pressure into the third period and found the equalizer as Amy Barnard (Cambridge) fired her first of the season past Webber on the power play. Stephanie Digness (Aldergrove) was credited with the lone assist on the tying marker.
The two combatants looked destined for overtime but Marriott had other ideas for the Warriors as the third year centre put home her second of the game to lift Waterloo to the 4-3 win. Hewitt-Kenda and Gee picked up the assists as Marriott's line teamed up for six points in the win.
Webber allowed four goals on 32 shots while Sluys was perfect in relief of Bouwhuis stopping all 17 shots she faced. Overall the Hawks put 27 shots on target.
The red hot Warriors will close out 2015 with a tough road challenge against the number one team in the country, the Guelph Gryphons who sit first in the OUA with 25 points. The game will be played on Thursday night at 7pm in Guelph.
Source: Waterloo Warriors
