AROUND OUA: Late rally falls short as Voyageurs down Mustangs
LONDON, Ont. - A determined three-goal comeback was not enough for Western as they fell 4-3 to the Laurentian Voyageurs at Thompson Arena on Friday night.
SCOREBOARD
Late rally falls short as Voyageurs down Mustangs
LONDON, Ont. - A determined three-goal comeback was not enough for Western as they fell 4-3 to the Laurentian Voyageurs at Thompson Arena on Friday night.
The Mustangs gave up three goals in the first period and went down 4-0 before slowly climbing their way back into the game, ultimately falling short. Lindsay Kirkham, Megan Taylor and Kendra Broad all scored and Kelly Campbell made 32 saves in the losing effort.
"We talked after the game about what lessons we can take away from this," said head coach David Barrett. "As cliché as it is we didn't play a 60 minute game. This league is too competitive for us to take periods of time off and expect to win."
The loss snaps the Mustangs three game winning streak and drops them to 10-1-5-0 going into Saturday's matchup with the Nipissing Lakers, who are chasing the Mustangs in the standings.
Western came out of the gate slowly in an action-packed first period. They had trouble breaking out and transitioning through the neutral zone. That problem translated into extended stretches of Laurentian control in the offensive zone.
Just under five minutes into the period the Voyageurs capitalized on their pressure. Laurentian forward Taylor Weber controlled the puck behind the Western net and two Mustang defenders gravitated towards her, leaving Weber's line mate Julie Herbert alone in front. Weber backhanded a sharp pass to the uncovered Herbert and she shoveled it past Campbell to open the scoring.
A Mustang penalty several minutes later helped the Voyageurs take a two-goal lead on the power play. After Campbell made two really great saves in tight, the puck was cycled to the point and defensemen Ellery Veerman wristed a shot that found the top corner above Campbell's glove.
The Voyageurs tacked on another goal to end the first frame before adding a fourth to open the second period. The Mustangs found themselves down 4-0 with 13 minutes left in the second period.
"I think they outworked us " said Barrett. "Any [puck] that was loose that was fifty-fifty was theirs."
The first half of them game may have belonged to Laurentian, but the tide was turned around the midway point of the second frame.
Kirkham struck first for Western. A dogged fore-check by her and Taylor gave the Mustangs the puck below the Laurentian red line. After the puck was shoveled in front of the net, Kirkham got her stick on it before Voyageur goaltender Emily Toffoli could get her glove down and sent it into the net.
A beautiful play in transition gave the Mustangs their second goal of the game. Western forward Edie Levesque received a quick up pass from her sister #Evra# and quickly tapped it to a streaking Taylor in the neutral zone. Taylor gained the zone and found herself in front of three Laurentian defenders. Noticing her trailing teammate, she tapped a drop pass back to Edie who fired a snap shot on net.
Edie's first effort didn't find the net, but Toffoli would kick out a big rebound to a driving Taylor, who jumped on the puck and stashed it in the back of the net from the left slot. Speed, quick thinking and good instincts on the part of Taylor and Levesque made up one of the sharpest goals the Mustangs have seen all season, making the score 4-2 after two periods of play.
In the third, Laurentian settled into a defensive style of play and clamped down on the Mustangs shot opportunities, blocking many of Western's attempts on net.
However, after a turnover at their own blue line, the Voyageurs left Broad all alone in front of the net. She received a quick pass from Britanny Clapham, stickhandled to her forehand, and slid the puck into the empty net under the sprawling effort from Toffoli.
The Mustangs pulled their goalie in the dying moments but were unable to find the tying goal despite a flurry of shots.
"They were a lot hungrier at the beginning," said Barrett. "We got a little desperate as the game went along but not a lot of teams in this league have the ability to come back from a 4-0 deficit."
The Mustangs will have to re group quickly, as they host the third place Nipissing Lakers at Thompson Arena on Saturday night in the OUA Feature Game of the Week.
"We have a good rivalry with them," said Barrett about the marque matchup. " [Head coach] Darren Turcotte has done a good job with his team up there - they compete every night."
Source: Western Mustangs
Lions offense roars against Rams
TORONTO - The York Lions were relentless against an injury-riddled Ryerson Rams squad in OUA women's hockey action Friday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
In their first home game of the 2016 portion of the season, the Rams fell 5-1. The victory vaults York (3-4-7-2) into ninth place and five points out of the final playoff spot currently held by the Laurier Golden Hawks. Meanwhile, the Rams fall to 2-0-12-1.
BOXSCORE
The Lions' powerplay came into the contest operating at a measly 4.5% to put them last in the league in that category. They got it going 3:58 in as their captain Amy Locke wired a shot from the slot past Ryerson's goaltender Ally Sarna (Whitby, Ont.) while Laura Ball (Toronto, Ont.) sat in the penalty box.
After killing off a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage for Ryerson, Stephanie Dovaston doubled York's lead when she deflected a centring pass into the top of the net for her third of the season.
It would stay 2-0 until the Rams came in life in the middle frame. Some great pressure and puck movement by Ryerson's top line resulted in a puck behind the Lions netminder Megan Lee. Ball picked up a Kayla Karbonik (St. Andrews, Man.) to Lee's left and fired a backhanded, no-look pass right to the stick of Emma Rutherford (Kanata, Ont.). She shoveled it between the pipes to cut York's advantage in half.
"It was really positive," said Rutherford about her fifth goal of the season after the game. "We really believed we could come back at that moment."
Unfortunately for the Rams, that would as close as they would come. The Lion outshot the Rams 15-1 in the third period and were rewarded for their willingness to put pucks on net. Locke's second of the night at the 4:28 mark was followed shortly after by Erran Lee's first of the season. Locke completed her hat trick midway through the period when she made no mistake on a beautiful pass by Chelsea Tucker from behind the net.
Lee only needed to make 12 saves to pick up the win in net. At the other end of the ice, Sarna was fantastic in the losing cause. Of the 37 shots sent her way, she turned aside 32. York finished with three powerplay tallies and killed off all five of Ryerson's opportunities on the man advantage.
With three of their veteran defenseman unable to play due to injury, including captain and workhorse Jessica Hartwick (Brampton, Ont.), Ryerson's head coach Lisa Haley was forced to only dress five blueliners.
"We're pretty thin on the back end," said Rams' head coach Lisa Haley following the game. "We're asking some first year players to play some really important minutes… We're trying to keep it as simple as we can and get the puck out of our zone and see if we can win some foot races. I don't expect us to blow it wide open offensively at any point in the near future. What I do expect though is that we find ways to tighten up on the defensive side, our penalty kill included, to see if we can keep it in reach."
Ryerson will try to just that tomorrow afternoon when the No. 1 Guelph Gryphons come to town for a 2:30 p.m. start.
"What we're trying to do is not focus too much on the opponent and play our game the right way," said Haley about the upcoming contest. "We'll see if we can capitalize on some lucky bounces. We're due for some so hopefully there will be some that present themselves tomorrow."
The game will be the highlight of the Rams' second annual Do It For Daron (DIFD) fundraiser in support of Youth Mental Health. If you can't make it out to the game, ensure you don't miss a second of the action by watching the broadcast on OUA.tv.
Source: Ryerson Rams
Jukosky pots first career CIS goal in Gaels loss to Warriors
KINGSTON, Ont. (January 22, 2016)- The Queen's Gaels women's hockey team lost its third-straight game on Friday evening at the Memorial Centre, falling to the Waterloo Warriors 3-1.
GAME FLOW
After successfully killing off a Warriors power-play midway through the opening 20 minutes, the Gaels took control of the game, maintaining possession for extended periods of time in the visitors end of the rink on multiple occasions. The continued pressure soon paid off, as the Warriors turned the puck over spending another long shift hemmed in behind their blue line.
Stirling, Ont. native Emily Jukosky one-timed a pass from Mary Coughlin (Amherstburg, Ont.) past Rebecca Bouwhuis to open the scoring after Coughlin stole the puck down the sideboards. Michele Knecht (North York, Ont.) also picked up an assist on the Jukosky's first career CIS marker, which gave the home side a 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
The hosts picked up where the left off in the first period, continuing to maintain a strong hold on the pace of the game through the first 10 minutes of the middle stanza and creating a number of scoring opportunities. Bouwhuis was equal to the task, however, first denying Knecht after the North York, Ont. native sped past the Waterloo defence on a partial break down the left wing. Bouwhuis went on to make 12 saves in the period, and her play proved crucial as it allowed the Warriors to score two goals in quick succession to move them in front later on in the period.
After Marissa Redmond zipped a shot under the cross bar over the glove of Caitlyn Lahonen, Paula LaGamba potted her 10th goal of the season from nearly the exact same spot just moments after the puck was dropped at centre ice, beating the Saskatoon, Sask. native with another in-close wrist shot from slightly right of the Gaels net. Within the span of just 19 seconds, the women found themselves trailing for the first time in the contest, and the score remained 2-1 for the Warriors at the end of the second period.
Neither team created a significant scoring opportunity during the first few minutes of the third period, but some pressure from the guests forced Lahonen into a shoulder save from a quick shot in tight with just over 10 minutes left in regulation.
The Warriors, however, were able to find their insurance marker with just over five minutes left in the game. A quick turnover behind the Gaels net was swiftly passed out to Kaitlyn McDonell, who had an easy tap-in to push the deficit up to three and put the game out of reach.
Lahonen stopped 26 of 29 shots in the loss, while Bouwhuis turned away 28 of 29 Gael shots to earn the victory.
FINAL SAY
"I actually thought it was a pretty good game by us," said Head Coach Matt Holmberg. "We felt great after the first period and for the first 16 minutes of the second period, and unfortunately we didn't get much puck luck to help us extend the lead. And we just had a couple of quick, small defensive breakdowns in the second and they capitalized. Looking at the bigger picture we are playing relatively well, both defensively and goaltending wise. We are not just finding the back of the net, we've now just scored four goals in our last four games."
BY THE NUMBERS
3 - The teams combined for just three penalties during Friday's game
29 - Both the Gaels and Warriors totalled 29 shots on goal
7 - Mary Coughlin picked up her team-leading 7th assist of the season on Emily Jukosky's goal
UP NEXT
The Gaels will look to end their three-game slide when they return to the Memorial Centre on Saturday evening to host the Laurier Golden Hawks. Puck-drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
Source: Queen's Gaels
Noseworthy hat trick lifts Lancers over Lakers
Led by a hat trick from OUA leading scorer Erinn Noseworthy, the University of Windsor women's hockey team defeated the Nipissing Lakers 5-3 on Friday night at South Windsor Arena.
With the win, the Lancers improve to 5-9-1-1 on the year, while the Lakers fall to 8-5-1-4.
Windsor got things started with a power play goal by Rachel Chantler at 5:55 of the first period. Assists were credited to Krystin Lawrence and Shailyn Waites. The Lakers did not take long to reply and scored at 7:45, when Kaitlyn McManus accepted a pass from Bronwyn Buldoc and Natalie Graham.
Windsor regained the lead late in the first at 18:03 with Larissa Boworiec's third goal of the season, to give the Lancers a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
The Lancers extended their lead at 4:09 of the second on a individual effort by captain Erinn Noseworthy. Noseworthy scored her second of the game less than two minutes later to take a 4-1 lead with 14 minute remaining in the middle frame. Nipissing would cut the lead to two at 19:30 with a goal from Kaley Tienhaara.
Noseworthy would score her ninth of the season on the power play and complete the hat trick at 15:47 of the final period to give Windsor a 5-2 lead. The Lakers pulled goaltender Sabrina Picard for the final 3:36 of the period in favour of the extra man. With the advantage, the Lakers were only able to get one past Lancer goaltender Ingrid Sandven with a goal from Buldoc at 17:22, as the Blue & Gold held on for the win.
Heading into tomorrow's game against the Laurentian Voyageurs at 4:00pm at South Windsor Arena, the Lancers hold the top three spots in league scoring. Noseworthy leads all scorers with 22 points, while Lawrence is right behind her with 21 points and Shawna Lesperance has 18. Noseworthy and Lawrence are tied for the top spot in assists with 13 each, while Lesperance leads the way in goals with 11.
Source: Windsor Lancers
