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OUA Final: Golden Hawks claim seventh straight OUA title
GUELPH, Ont. - The Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team put up a
valiant effort against the six-time defending OUA champions, but
when the final buzzer sounded Saturday at the Gryphon Centre, it
was the No. 2 nationally-ranked Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks who
emerged with a 2-1 victory in the second game of the best-of-three
OUA championship.
It was do-or-die for the Gryphons on Saturday afternoon when they
took the ice with Laurier picking up the win in the first game on
Thursday 2-0 in Waterloo, Ont. With the win, the Golden Hawks have
now defeated Guelph in back-to-back OUA finals and will move on to
the national championships.
Erin Small (Pickering, Ont.) would pick up the
Gryphons only goal at 6:07 in the first with Emily
Corbett (Toronto) and Jessica Zerafa
(Mississauga, Ont.) getting the assists. Katherine
Shirriff (Carrying Place, Ont.) and Devon
Skeats (Whitby, Ont.) would net Laurier's pair of goals,
with assists coming only on the first of the two, to Kaley
Powers (Kingston, Ont.) and Alicia Martin
(Etobicoke, Ont.).
Shiriff from Laurier and Small from Guelph were named the Harrow
Sports Canada Ltd. players of the game.
Goaltending responsibilities went to Danielle
Skoufranis (Thornhill, Ont.) of the Gryphons and
Liz Knox (Stouffville, Ont.) for Laurier.
Skoufranis put on a strong performance stopping 14 of 16 shots in
the game, while Knox picked up the win making 21 saves with just a
single goal against.
Laurier was the first to get on the board in the first period, just
two seconds into a power play. With Jody
Hodgins (Stayner, Ont.) in the box, Laurier won the
face-off in the Gryphon zone and fired a shot on net. Skoufranis
made the initial save, but gave up a juicy rebound that Laurier
forward Sherriff whacked into the back of the net, giving Laurier
the 1-0 lead.
Guelph would get an equalizer minutes later while controlling the
play in the Golden Hawk zone. Zerafa picked up the puck
behind the goal line near the corner and circled the top of the
zone. Zerafa dropped the puck back to Corbett at the point
who sent a low shot on net. Small, well positioned in front,
deflected the puck and it jumped up and over Skoufranis to knot the
game at one.
The Hawks would regain their lead at 12:40 in the frame on a smart
wrap-around play by Skeats. Once again, Skoufranis made a
great save on a shot, but was caught out of position on the
rebound. Skeats picked up the puck and took it behind and around
the net slipping the puck neatly inside undefended post.
The Gryphons would get a number of power play opportunities in the
second, but weren't able to beat Knox. The scoreless trend was also
true for the Golden Hawks who only recorded a single shot on net
for the whole of the period, leaving the score 2-1 after 40
minutes.
Up by a single marker in the third period, the Golden Hawks began
their defensive stand against the Gryphons, dumping the puck deep
into Guelph's zone and hanging back on offence. The technique
worked for much of the period, but as time wore down the urgency in
the Gryphons became more apparent, picking up the pace and grinding
hard in the Laurier zone. The Gryphons had a number of close
chances, but as the buzzer went, the score remained 2-1 in favour
of the Golden Hawks, the new OUA champions.
With the victory, the Golden Hawks continue their provincial
domination in claiming their seventh straight OUA title. The Golden
Hawks now advance to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS)
women's hockey championship which will take place from March 11-14
at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.
The Gryphons finished the regular season with a 14-10-0 record. En
route to the finals, Guelph defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues in
the OUA quarter-finals, then the Queens Gaels in two straight games
of the OUA semifinals. The 2009-2010 women's hockey team was
honoured with two OUA all-star nominations. Fourth-year
Dayna Kanis (Georgetown, Ont.) and third-year
Jackie Sollis (West Vancouver, B.C.) were named
second team OUA all-stars.
Courtesy of University of Guelph, Department of Athletics
- OUA -
