AROUND OUA: Ridgebacks knock off No. 7 ranked Lakers in shootout

SCOREBOARD

UOIT 4 @ Nipissing 3

Wateloo 4 @ York 1

Queen's 4 @ Laurentian 3

Ryerson 0 @ Western 4

Brock 1 @ Laurier 3

Ridgebacks knock off No. 7 ranked Lakers in shootout

NORTH BAY, Ont. – The UOIT women's hockey team erased a two-goal deficit twice in their game on Saturday afternoon as they beat the no. 7 ranked Nipissing Lakers 4-3 in a shootout.
 
Kassidy Nauboris (Brampton, Ont.) recorded an assist on all three UOIT goals and scored in the shootout as the Ridgebacks earned their third straight victory. UOIT (4-2-4-3) moves into a tie for a playoff position with the Windsor Lancers (5-1-7-2) while Nipissing remains in second place (8-2-2-2).
 
Nipissing got off to a great start scoring two goals in the opening six minutes of the game. With 13 seconds to go in the first period, Chelsea Ball (Maple, Ont.) managed to cut the lead in half as she scored her sixth goal of the season while extending her point streak to five games.
 
The teams would trade second period goals with Mikaeli Cavell (Edmonton, Alta.) finding the back of the net for UOIT, cutting the Nipissing lead to 3-2. Cavell extended a point streak of her own as she has recorded seven points in her last four games.
 
The Ridgebacks tying goal in the third period came from an unlikely source as assistant captain Jenna Carter notched her first goal of the season. Carter's power play marker was assisted by Cavell and Nauboris.
 
In the late stages of overtime, it looked as if the Ridgebacks had won the game but the referees ruled that the puck crossed the line after the buzzer. Double overtime would also solve nothing forcing a shootout.
 
Ball, Nauboris and Grace Donaldson (St. Thomas, Ont.) all scored highlight reel goals on their shootout attempts while Briar Hughes (Thornton, Ont.) made two saves to give the Ridgebacks the comeback win.
 
Hughes made 19 saves in her third win of the season. Shots finished all-square at 22 apiece.
 
UOIT will wrap up their weekend road trip with an afternoon game against the Laurentian Voyageurs on Sunday.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

Warriors back on track with 4-1 win over Lions

The Warrios women's hockey team put a stop to a three game losing streak picking up a huge 3 points in a 4-1 win over the York Lions on Satruday afternoon in Toronto.  

Alison Hanson (Toronto) scored twice while Alyssa Gee (Ajax) and Rebecca Rutherford (Ajax) each had two points in the win.  Waterloo moved to 9-5-1 on the season as they remain in third spot in the OUA with 26 points, three back of second place Nipissing.  With the loss York fell to 3-7-4.  

Rutherford opened the scoring at the 10:16 mark of the opening frame with Carolyn Burke (Mississauga) and Gee picking up the helpers.  Sarah Power from the Lions put one past Stephanie Sluys (Clinton) just six minutes later as the game went into the first intermission tied at one's.

Hanson found the net late in the second period and then again midway through the third, her third and fourth of the season to put Waterloo up 3-1.  Cynthia Cavanagh (Scarborough) put the game away with her second career goal into the empty net to secure the 4-1 Warrior win.

Sluys was solid between the pipes with 25 saves while at the other end, Eva Hall allowed three goals on 20 shots.

Waterloo will now prepare for two more road games as they take on Ryerson and Queen's next Saturday and Sunday. 

Source: Waterloo Warriors

Gaels complete Northern Ontario roadtrip with 4-3 win over Voyageurs

SUDBURY, Ont. (January 7, 2017) - The Queen's Gaels (7-1-6-0) defeated the Laurentian Voyageurs (6-0-7-0) 4-3 on Saturday afternoon in OUA women's hockey action.
 
GAMEFLOW
In the first period Laurentian opened the scoring to take a 1-0 lead. Elissa Bertuzzi scored for the Voyageurs, with Taylor Philip and Myla McCormick assisting and Queen's was in a tough spot down a goal in the first. Stephanie Pascal (Sudbury, Ont.) got the start for Queen's in her hometown of Sudbury and kept the Gaels in the game stopping 16 of 17 first period shots to keep the lead at just 1-0.
 
In the second, the Queen's Gaels scored four consecutive goals to take a 4-1 lead. Clare McKellar (London, Ont.) tied the game 1-1 on a goal from Kaylie Dennis (London, Ont.) and Hailey Wilson (Pickering, Ont.). Three minutes later, Addi Halladay (North Augusta, Ont.) scored to give the Gaels a 2-1 lead with Katrina Manoukarakis (Scarborough, Ont.) picking up the lone assist.

In the second half of the period, Jessica Wakefield (Lucan, Ont.) scored back-to-back goals to give the Gaels a 4-1 lead. Wakefield's first goal came in the thirteenth minute, with Nadia Larocca (Mississauga, Ont.) assisting. Three minutes later, Wakefield scored her second goal of the game. Larocca and Bryce Desa (London, Ont.) picked up the assists.
 
In the third period Laurentian pushed back. Kennedy Lanktree scored for the Voyageurs on the power play, to cut the Gaels lead to 4-2 early in the period. Taylor Weber and Sara Habal assisted on the play. In the final minute of the period, Annie Sheridan scored for the Voyageurs with their net empty, cutting the Gaels lead to 4-3.

Laurentian was unable to complete the comeback, allowing the Gaels to skate away with a 4-3 victory.
 
Pascal made 33 saves throughout the contest picking up the win.

Source: Queen's Gaels

Mustangs open 2017 with win over Ryerson

LONDON, Ont. – The Western Mustangs started 2017 on a positive note, scoring four goals in the opening 20 minutes to defeat the Ryerson Rams 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Arena.

"I think [the team] was very motivated," said Mustangs assistant coach Blair Webster. "We had a good week of practice this week, they've been off since that last game against Windsor, and we just pushed the pace in practice this week and focused on coming out with a strong first period. Obviously, a 4-0 lead after one, you couldn't have scripted it any better."  

The win moves the purple and white into a tie for fourth place in the OUA standings with Queen's, who have a game in hand. The battle for positioning in the standings remains fierce as Western has only six more points than the Rams, who are in eleventh place.

Western came out in the first period with a strong sense of urgency after suffering an 8-1 defeat to Windsor in their last game of 2016. "The game against Windsor wasn't our greatest effort and wasn't our best way to end [the first half of the season]," said Mustangs forward April Clark about the motivation the team had to bounce back. "But, we said we needed to regroup and pick it up, and we worked hard over the break. We wanted to start off with a good game, so that's what we did."

Despite not many shots being fired by either team in the opening period, 7-4 for Western by the end of the frame, Western managed to score four times and take a commanding lead into the intermission.

Clark scored on the first shot of the game for the Mustangs, and freshman forward Shana Alexander added another goal less than three minutes later on the third shot registered by the team. The other two goals were scored by Lyndsay Kirkham and Alyssa Chiarello, with Kirkham scoring on a breakaway after receiving a breakout pass from Alexander, while Chiarello's marker came on the power play.

The other two periods couldn't match the fast start set in the opening 20 minutes, with no goals being scored and only one penalty being committed. The Mustangs played disciplined hockey, committing no penalties in the entirety of the game, and got a great performance from starting goaltender Katie Jacobs, who recorded her first shutout of the season.

The starting forward line of Clark, Alexander and Kirkham were the contributors on the team's first three goals, combining for six points. "Some of our faster skaters on the team are on that line," said Webster about the line combination. "They just used their speed to take the puck to the net and pucks went in."

Western won't have long to celebrate their win as the team takes to the ice at Thompson Arena tomorrow, January 8, at 4 p.m. to take on the Toronto Varsity Blues, who shut them out 2-0 in their last meeting in Toronto.

"We want to keep pushing forward." Clark shared about the team mentality heading into tomorrow's game, "We got a lot of momentum out of this game and hopefully we can come out with the win."

Source: Western Mustangs

Badgers fall to Golden Hawks 3-1

KITCHENER, ON - The Brock University women's hockey team opened the second half of the season with a 3-1 road loss to the Laurier Golden Hawks.at the Sun Life Arena..

Midway through the first period, Brock's Brenna Murphy (Odessa, ON) and Kimberly Brown (Toronto, ON) setup Isabella Triolo (Oakville, ON) for her first goal of the season on the power play, to put the Badgers up 1-0.

With five minutes left in the opening frame, Laurier would even the game 1-1 with a goal from Emily Woodhouse, her sixth of the campaign.

The Golden Hawks took the lead 2-1 with a power play marker from Madison MacCulloch with two  minutes left in the second period.

In the third, Brock peppered Laurier starting goaltender Amanda Smith with 15 shots but could not get the equalizer. Aynsley Harrison would add an insurance marker for the Golden Hawks with an empty netter 30 seconds left in regulation.

In goal, Brock's Jensen Murphy (Kingston, ON) collected 29 saves in the loss. Smith turned aside 29 of the 30 shots she faced for the victory.

The Badgers return to action January 13th at 12:15pm when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues at the Seymour-Hannah Centre.

Source: Brock Badgers