AROUND OUA: Murphy makes 27 saves as Brock blanks Waterloo
WATERLOO, ON - The Brock University women's hockey team picked up a big victory Sunday afternoon on the road as they shutout the Waterloo Warriors by the score of 1-0
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Murphy makes 27 saves as Brock blanks Waterloo
WATERLOO, ON - The Brock University women's hockey team picked up a big victory Sunday afternoon on the road as they shutout the Waterloo Warriors by the score of 1-0
Brock captain Laura Neu (Ayr, ON) regisstered a shorthanded marker midway through the first period, which proved to be the game winner.
In goal, Brock rookie Jensen Murphy (Kingston, ON) recorded 27 saves for the win. Waterloo's Stephanie Sluys collected 29.saves in the loss.
Brock returns home for three straight games at the Seymour-Hannah Centre versus the UOIT Ridgebacks (Jan 16 - 2:15pm), Windsor Lancers (Jan. 17 - 2:15pm) and Toronto Varsity Blues (Jan. 23 - 2:15 pm).
Source: Brock Badgers
Gryphons pick up 3-0 win over Golden Hawks
Guelph, ON - Sunday afternoon the No. 1-ranked Gryphons women's hockey team picked up their 10th win in their last 11 games with a convincing 3-0 victory over the visiting Laurier Golden Hawks. With the victory, the Gryphons improve to 12-2-1, while the Golden Hawks fell to 7-5-1.
Unable to score until the dying second of overtime in their 1-0 victory over York the previous day, the Gryphons offence got going a little sooner this time around. Three minutes into the second period, Kelly Gribbons capitalized with a backhand at the end of a two-on-one rush into the offensive zone, assisted by Claire Merrick and Brittany St. James.
The Gryphons managed to open the scoring due to the stellar performance put on by Gryphons net minder, Valerie Lamenta, in the first period. The Golden Hawks owned the majority of scoring chances in the first 20 minutes but Lamenta came up big, stopping four point-blank one-timers from the slot, as well as keeping the puck out during a number of mad scrambles around the crease.
Nearing the end of the second period, Gryphons fans cheered prematurely, thinking that a shot from the point went bar-down. Amidst hollering from the stands, the referee signaled "no goal", and play continued. Not long after, with less than three minutes left to play in the second period, Laurier's shot from the blue line was blocked by a pair of Gryphon shin pads and Sophie Contant sprinted after the loose puck. Off to the races, on a clear-cut breakaway, Contant sniped the puck past the keeper's right pad and the Gryphons took a two-goal lead into the third period.
One minute into the third period, the freshman from Oakville, Ontario, Claire Merrick, roofed a cross-crease feed from St. James, scoring her first goal as a Gryphon and her second point on the day. Lamenta would go on to make two crucial saves on tipped shots in the last minute of play and registered her sixth shutout of the season.
The Gryphons will see their next action on January 16 when they visit the University of Toronto (8-3-3). The game will be broadcasted live on OUA.tv.
Source: Guelph Gryphons
Clapham scores twice and Jacobs earns the shutout in 3-0 win over UOIT
LONDON, Ont. – Forward Brittany Clapham scored two goals and goaltender Katie Jacobs stopped all 24 shots she faced to lead the Mustangs to a 3-0 win over the UOIT Ridgebacks on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Arena.
The win came in Western's first game back from the winter break and gives the Mustangs a 9-1-4-0 record, moving the team into a tie for second place in the OUA with Nipissing. The loss gives UOIT a 3-1-9-1 record on the year.
Mustangs head coach David Barrett was aware that the Mustangs would need to settle into their game following the long break.
"You always fear some rust coming off a lay off like that but the other teams the same way," he said, "We had a good week of practice and we stressed some things that we saw glimpses of tonight."
Clapham's two highlight reel goals came midway through both the second and third period and gives the Tottenham, Ont., native five goals on the year. Jacobs win is her second of the year, with her other victory also being a shutout back on October 31 against Laurentian.
Both teams did need some time in the first period to settle in to their respective game plans. The first ten minutes saw a tentative back and forth as both teams struggled to break the puck out and sustain offensive zonetime. UOIT picked up the pressure first, hemming the Mustangs in their zone for an extended period of time just past the midway point of the period. The Ridgebacks peppered Jacobs with several shots but were unable to beat the fourth-year netminder.
The Mustangs capitalized on their goaltenders sharp form by breaking the deadlock on their second power play of the period. Stacey Scott fired a shot from the top of the zone that snaked its way through the traffic and eventually found it's way into the net after kicking off a Ridgeback defenders skate.
The Ridgebacks were given an opportunity to respond quickly as Mustang defender Brianna Iazzolino was sent off for cross-checking minutes later but they were not able to beat Jacobs and the penalty kill which did a fine job blocking shots and clearing pucks out of the zone.
"A lot of penalty killing is good goaltending," said Barrett "Katie had a great game today. She's played two games and had two shutouts."
Jacobs was consistently square to the shooter and playing well out of the paint making the 5'6 netminder look big between the iron and helping to keep the Mustangs in front 1-0 after one.
The second period opened at a much faster pace as both teams found their games. The transition game improved and helped to create equally good scoring chances at both ends of the ice. The second period began without a whistle for the first six and a half minutes.
Clapham scored her first of two goals on a highlight reel effort halfway through the frame. Clapham chipped it by her defender on the half-wall, took it strong to the middle with two skill moves and fired a shot below the arm of Ridgeback netminder Cassie Charette for her fourth goal of the year.
"The shot wasn't a very good one," said Clapham after the game, "I got kind of lucky that it went in."
Clapham increased the lead to 3-0 after another great effort in the third period. Clapham took the puck into the zone, and delayed to freeze the goalie before roofing the puck high blocker on Charette.
"Megan [Taylor] passed me the puck and I actually had Marlowe [Pecora] going wide as well," said Clapham, "She called for it and everyone kind of drifted away so I saw that I had the wide open net. Really nice play by both of them."
"[Clapham's] play has steadily improved in the two years I've been here," said Barrett, "She has become more confident and is understanding the game more."
The Mustangs locked the third period down from their defensive zone out and secured the 3-0 win.
The Mustangs play York next week, marking the second week in a row that the Western will only have one game on the schedule.
"Tough rink to play in for us. But I don't mind it," said Barrett when asked about the light schedule. "It gives an opportunity to get a lot of practice in."
Source: Western Mustangs
Rams snap losing streak against Laurentian
SUDBURY, Ont. - In an interview with fourth year forward Paulena Jakarsezian in December, the veteran playmaker reflected on the difficult first half of the season that the Ryerson Rams women's hockey team endured. With only one win and four points after 11 games, she believed that going through that difficult stretch would be positive for her team in the end.
"I think this is going to help a lot of the younger players, and even some of the older players," she said at the time. "It's only going to build our team's character."
That character shone through Sunday afternoon against the Laurentian Voyageurs at the Countryside Arena. Coming off a 6-1 pummeling at the hands of the Nipissing Lakers less than 24 hours before, the Rams earned a hard fought 3-1 victory. The win snapped their six game losing streak that dated back to late October.
BOXSCORE
Laurentian, fresh off a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues the day before, got off to a quick start. Only 1:48 into the first period, a familiar foe found the back of the net for the Voyageurs. Julie Hebert took a pass from Taylor Weber and snapped the biscuit between the pipes for her eighth of the year. In the previous meeting of these two sides at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Nov. 27, Hebert scored a couple of first period goals to propel her team to a 2-1 victory.
Ryerson responded quick midway through the period on the powerplay. Stephanie Chiste blasted a shot past Laurentian's Laura Deller for her first of the year to knot the score back up again at one. Kayla Karbonik picked up the lone assist on the play for her first point of the season in her second game back.
Fifty-one seconds into the middle frame, the Rams took advantage of another powerplay opportunity. Emma Rutherford netted her team-leading fourth goal of the year to give Ryerson a 2-1 lead.
The Rams' Alex Armstrong stole the show for the rest of the period. She turned aside every single one of the 16 shots she faced to preserve Ryerson's one goal edge.
Her teammates provided a bit of insurance in the third period as Chiste potted her second of the night to make it 3-1. Her unassisted tally late in the frame sealed the win for the Rams. The fourth year defenceman now leads the squad in scoring with five points.
The Voyageurs peppered Armstrong with 42 shots of which she stopped 41. At the other end of the ice, Deller finished with 27 saves.
Following a tough afternoon on the man advantage against Nipissing in which they went scoreless on six chances, the Rams powerplay struck twice on the three opportunities they got. Meanwhile, Laurentian finished 0-for-4.
The win bumps Ryerson's record to 2-0-10-1 while the Voyageurs fall to 5-2-6-2. The Rams remain in last place but are now only five points behind the Windsor Lancers (3-1-8-1).
