AROUND OUA: Western finishes regular season with OT win over Queen's

SCOREBOARD

Western 3 @ Queen's 2

Windsor 2 @ Guelph 7

Ryerson 6 @ Waterloo 2

Laurier 0 @ UOIT 3

York 0 @ Laurentian 3

Brock 2 @ Toronto 4

Western finishes regular season with OT win over Queen's

NAPANEE, Ont. – Evra Levesque capped off the Mustangs regular season in style on Saturday night, scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals as Western defeated Queen's 3-2 in overtime at the Strathcona Paper Centre.

With the win the Mustangs end the regular season with 39 points, as do the Gaels. Waterloo, who still has one game remaining on the schedule, also has 39 points, but have locked up fourth place due to tiebreakers, likely setting up a first round playoff matchup against Western, with the purple and white finishing in fifth place.

Levesque's two markers came within a four-minute span on the game clocking, tying the game at 18:29 of the third before scoring the winner at 2:18 of overtime. April Clark scored Western's first goal of the game, with both Evra and Edie Levesque providing the assists.

The Gaels were first on the board when first-year defenceman Bryce Desa opened the scoring midway through the first period. The lead would only last just over five minutes, however, before Clark scored her third goal in four games to send the game into the first intermission tied 1-1.

Not much separated the two teams in the first period as only one power play took place and the shots were 7-6 in favour of the Mustangs. Western would begin to earn more opportunities than their opponents in the second frame, holding a five-shot advantage and earning their only power play opportunity of the game with fewer than four minutes remaining.

Despite the statistical shift in momentum, the Gaels were the team who took the lead in the period on a goal by Addi Halladay, her second goal in as many games against the Mustangs this season.

Western's defence would tighten up in the third period, allowing only four shots and committing no penalties. Katie Jacobs, who hadn't allowed more than two goals in her two previous starts, stopped all four of the shots she faced and was rewarded with a game-tying goal by Evra Levesque, who now has four multi-point performances in her last five games.

The 2-2 score still stood at period's end, so the Mustangs headed to overtime for the second time in three games after prevailing over the Laurier Golden Hawks in a shootout last weekend.

Evra Levesque finished off her strong offensive outing and impressive latter half of the season with the game-winning goal in overtime to complete the season sweep of the Gaels. The forward finishes the regular season with 19 points, good for third on the Mustangs roster, and averaged more than a point per game over the final 15 games of the season, with all of her points coming in that 15-game span.

With the OUA regular season schedule not wrapping up until Sunday, the Mustangs will need to wait until each of the league's games are concluded before their first round playoff matchup is announced.

Source: Western Mustangs

Gryphons clobber Lancers

GUELPH, ON - Saturday afternoon at the Gryphon Centre, the Gryphons women's hockey team won 7-2 over the Windsor Lancers. Gryphons fourth year forward Kelly Gribbons (Port Elgin, ON) recorded a hat trick while twelve different Gryphon players put their name on the score sheet as the team improved to 19-3-1 on the season. With Saturday's victory, the Gryphons clinch first-place in the OUA standings with one game remaining in the regular season schedule. The Gryphons will wrap up their regular season on Sunday afternoon with a home game against the second-place Nipissing Lakers.

"Our offensive production was terrific today. We know that Windsor could be a potential first-round matchup for us in the playoffs, so it was important to put together a strong effort today," said Gryphons head coach Rachel Flanagan. "We're looking forward to a big challenge tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon versus Nipissing. It's nice to be able to end the regular season schedule against some playoff-bound teams and potential future matchups."

If there was any concern over the Gryphons offensive output following a 3-0 loss last Sunday at Waterloo, that concern was put to rest on Saturday afternoon. The Gryphons exploded for a season-high seven goals, four of which came in the final period of play. The first goal of the game came just over six minutes into the opening period when Gryphons defenceman Katherine Bailey scored a power play marker to give the Gryphs an early 1-0 lead. After the Lancers tied the game at 1-1, Kelly Gribbons would score her first of three on the night to give the Gryphs a 2-1 lead heading to the 2nd period.

The lone goal of the 2nd period belonged to Gryphons rookie Kristen Jay (Thornhill, ON). Jay's second goal of the season, and first since October 29th, pushed the Gryphons lead to 3-1 heading to the 3rd. Another Gryphon rookie would find the back of the net 1:22 into the final period when Sydney Davison (Oakville, ON) potted her 9th of the season, ranking her third on the team in goals scored behind only Gribbons and Kaitlin Lowy. After Kelly Gribbons scored her second of the night, Sophie Contantt would score to make the score 6-2. Gribbons capped off her hat trick with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.

Lowy finished the night with three assists while Karli Shell and Claire Merrick also finished with multi-point nights, each recording a pair of assists. Valerie Lamenta turned away 19 of the 21 shots sent her way for her 14th win of the season.

The Gryphons will now turn their attention to the Nipissing Lakers on Sunday afternoon. Not only are the Gryphons and Lakers the top two teams in the OUA standings, they are also ranked No. 2 and No. 9 in the national Top 10. The Gryphons currently sit on top of the standings with 54 points, the Lakers (18-3-3) are three points back with 51 points. This will be the team's second meeting of the season, with the Lakers winning 1-0 back on November 18th in North Bay. Puck drop on Sunday is set for 2pm at the Gryphon Centre.

Source: Guelph Gryphons

Rams win big to end season

WATERLOO, Ont. - While there hasn't been much to smile about throughout the course of this season for the Ryerson Rams women's hockey team, a 6-2 win over the Waterloo Warriors in their final game of the 2016-17 campaign on Saturday was well deserving of a couple grins at the sound of the game's final buzzer.

BOXSCORE

The Rams' six goals on the afternoon were the most they've scored in a single game all season long and snapped a two game goalless streak in the process.  In a season that felt as if nothing went their way, Saturday afternoon's romping of the Warriors was the feel good ending the Rams needed in order to finish off the year on the right foot.  

Krashandra Green was once again the leader for the Rams offensively and put up a goal and an assist in the win.  With the two point performance, Green tied Ryerson's individual season point record with 20 points (Kyla Thurston, 2011-12). Green's ten goals on the year also ties her with Thurston for the most goals scored by a Ram in a single season.

The Rams got off to a hot start in Waterloo on Saturday with Michelle Evagelou finding twine mid-way through the opening frame for the game's first goal. Lauren Nicholson then potted one of her own with less than a minute to go in the period and gave the Rams a 2-0 lead headed into the second.

The Warriors came out for the second more determined and started to gain back some of the momentum they lost in the opening twenty minutes.  Rachel Marriott of the Warriors managed to beat Rams' starting netminder Sydney Authier in front and cut the Rams' lead in half just minutes into the period.

The back-and-forth play continued throughout the period with stellar play from both Authier and the Warriors' Taylor Riemer between the pipes.  The Marriott marker was the lone goal scored in the period and forecasted what was to be an exciting third period finish with the game 2-1.

The Warriors started the third period off much like the first with an early goal less than five-minutes in.  Rebecca Rutherford tagged the Rams with the game tying goal and made things interesting at 2-2.

The Rams responded extremely well after allowing the Warriors to tie, and went on to score four unanswered to evidently win 6-2.  Sarah McGilvray and Ailish Forfar scored less than two minutes apart to regain the Rams' two goal lead.  Green then potted her 10th of the season less than a minute later to tie the single season scoring record and make the game 5-2 in favour of the Rams.  An empty netter for Evagalou's second of the night then sealed the deal for the Rams as they went on to defeat the Warriors 6-2 at the Columbia Ice Field in Waterloo, Ont.

Autheir was stellar between the pipes for the Rams and made 23 saves en route for her seventh win on the season.  Justine Johnson also had an exceptional afternoon and finished with a pair of assists for a two point outing.  

The end of the season also marked the end of an era at Ryerson. This was the last game in a Rams' jersey for five graduating seniors: Stephanie Chiste (Schomberg, Ont.), Michelle Evagelou (Scarborough, Ont.), Justine Glover (Wasaga Beach, Ont.), Blair Malthaner (Toronto) and Danelle Im (Toronto). All five have been an enormous part of the women's hockey program during their time here and will be missed.

Source: Ryerson Rams

UOIT sweeps Laurier for first time in program history

OSHAWA, Ont. - For the first time in program history the UOIT women's hockey team swept the season series with Laurier after a 3-0 shutout on Saturday afternoon.
 
Heading into this year, UOIT's win-loss record was 1-24 over nine seasons against the Golden Hawks. With Sunday's victory, UOIT went 2-0 versus the Golden Hawks this season.
 
UOIT will close out their regular season on Sunday afternoon against the Waterloo Warriors and will look to hit 10 conference wins for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The Ridgebacks sit in tenth place overall and are eliminated from postseason play.
 
Freshman Briar Hughes (Thornton, Ont.) made 24 saves for her first career OUA shutout. In 12 games this season, Hughes has posted a 6-4 record with a 3.14 goals against average.
 
This was UOIT's first shutout in conference play since Oct. 31, 2014 when Tori Campbell (Saskatoon, Sask.) made 25 saves against Nipissing.
 
Nicole Zabel (Palmerston, Ont.) would get UOIT on the board 13:52 in the first period with her second goal of the year as her point shot deflected off a Laurier defender and in the back of the net. Chelsea Ball (Maple, Ont.) and Kassidy Nauboris (Brampton, Ont.) recorded assists on the power play goal.
 
Less than two minutes later, Nicole Gorda (Edmonton, Alta.) would score off a rebound giving the Ridgebacks a 2-0 lead. Grace Donaldson (St. Thomas, Ont.) took the initial shot, giving her two assists on the year.
 
Gorda would record the first multi-goal game of her career with another strike in the second period, but it was linemate Jenna Carter (Whitby, Ont.) who did most of the work. With Laurier goaltender Amanda Smith behind the net playing the puck, Carter stole it and fed Gorda in the slot who had a wide-open net.
 
Laurier would fire 14 shots on goal in the third period but the Ridgebacks managed to keep the Golden Hawks off the board.
 
UOIT went 1-for-2 on the power play while Laurier went 0-for-4. Final shots finished 24-23 in favour of Laurier.
 
The Ridgebacks will honour their graduating seniors prior to Sunday's game against Waterloo. The ceremony is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Source: UOIT Ridgebacks

No. 10 Blues end season with fourth straight win

In their last game of the regular season, the No. 10 nationally ranked University of Toronto Varsity Blues women's hockey team defeated the Brock Badgers 4-2 Saturday night (Feb. 18) at Varsity Arena.
 
The win puts the Blues at 15-2-7-0 (W-OTW-L-OTL), ending their regular season on a four game winning streak to clinch third place in the OUA.
 
The Blues opened the floodgates at the halfway point of the first frame with a goal by forward Kassie Roache off a beautiful pass from veteran Taylor Day. The goal marked the fourth for Roache over the last two games.
 
Just over two minutes later, U of T's Jessica Maggioni scored her second of the season off a great fore-check and pass from first-year forward Chenez Power, notching her first point with the Blues.
 
About four minutes into the second frame, Power, continuing her milestone game, scored her first goal as a Varsity Blue with a helper from Maggioni.
 
However, Brock would finally solve Blues goalie Valencia Vordanov just one minute into the third period with a goal from forward Christina Ieradi.
 
Brock would continue to test the Blues by closing their deficit to only one with a power play goal from Christina Ieradi.
 
Toronto immediately responded though just twenty three seconds later with veteran Alessandra Bianchi forcing a turnover from a Brock defender and second-year forward Jessica Robichaud sweeping in to take the puck and score her third of the season.
 
Yordanov posted 23 saves in the win.
 
The Blue and White will await the results of tomorrow's remaining regular season games to determine their quarter-final opponent.

Source: Toronto Varsity Blues