Team CIS falls to Canada Red at Development Camp Tournament
A valiant effort from Team CIS was not quite enough on Tuesday night, as the university select team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Canada Red development team.
By: Carlos Verde
CALGARY, Alta. -- A valiant effort from Team CIS was not quite enough on Tuesday night, as the university select team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Canada Red development team.
Mélodie Bouchard (Boucherville, Que.) and Kaitlin Willoughby (Prince Albert, Sask.) found the net in the loss for Team CIS (0-1-1), which had its fair share of chances against the Canada Red (2-0-0) goaltending tandem of Stephanie Neatby and Erica Howe.
"Overall I'm really happy with our performance," said Team CIS head coach Rachel Flanagan. "The team is coming together and we're playing pretty well for a team that hasn't had a chance to look at systems (or) work on our powerplay."
The CIS squad began brightly, outshooting Canada Red 4-1 in the opening minutes and testing Neatby a handful of times, before the Canadian national development team began to take over.
Waterloo goaltender Stephanie Sluys (Clinton, Ont.) had to come up with a number of quality saves in the latter half of the first period to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.
Canada Red broke through at 6:05 of the second period, when forward Sarah Nurse took a superb pass from Lindsey Donovan and burst in alone on Sluys, who was unable to stop her breakaway wrist shot.
The national development squad doubled its lead a few minutes later through Sarah Potomak, who snapped a loose puck past Sluys from the slot.
After soaking up a bit more Canada Red pressure, Team CIS went on the offensive, peppering cold development squad goaltender Erica Howe — a second-period substitute — with a series of good shots.
The breakthrough for the university squad came inside the final minute of the middle frame, on a 5-on-3 when uOttawa's Mélodie Bouchard beat Howe from close-range off a feed from Alex Poznikoff (Edmonton, Alta.).
Team CIS then tied things up early in the final frame, when Howe let an innocuous shot from USask's Kaitlin Willoughby beat her five-hole.
Kristin O'Neill would put Canada Red ahead for good at the 5:46 mark, going bar-down with a shot from the slot following a defensive-zone turnover by CIS defenceman Maude Laramée (Gatineau, Que.).
While Team CIS had a few half-chances down the stretch, Flanagan's team was unable to beat Howe for another equalizer.
Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives for the collegiate select team, including a stretch of dominance leading up to its first goal and the play of netminder Stephanie Sluys (Clinton, Ont.).
"(We) just started moving our feet in all three zones — maybe there was some fatigue on Team Red, so we took advantage of that," said Coach Flanagan of her team's dominant finish in the second period. "(Sluys) did everything she needed to do, she was tested, she made her routine saves and she put her rebounds where they needed to go, it was a really solid performance from her."
Wednesday's off day will be focused on activation and regeneration as the 22 players aim to get some rest ahead of Thursday's game against Canada White.
"Tomorrow's about relaxing and remembering to have fun," said Coach Flanagan. "We've come a lot further than anyone expected (us) to be at this point of the event — we're going to start talking about our team identity now."
