CIS women's hockey Saturday roundup: No. 6 Brock records 20th victory in 3-2 victory over No. 2 Laurier

Though the Bisons were ahead in the standings as well as on the shot clock, somehow Regina was able to pull off a victory and upset Manitoba 2-1. With the result of this game Regina climbs to 7-10-2 on their season and the Bisons fall to 12-5-1.

The Bisons controlled the action straight out of the gate, being aggressive on the forecheck and putting pucks on net. The Cougars had a few opportunities to get their offense going but each and every time Manitoba's defence would collectively shut them down.

While the Bisons were getting a good amount of shots on net, their first good opportunity to get on the board came around the halfway mark of the first period, when Regina's Rae-Lynn Somogyi would sit for two for tripping. Manitoba continued their effort on the power play, but couldn't find a marker.

As time wound down, Regina would get the same opportunity for that key first goal, as Manitoba's Kacey Funk would serve a two-minute minor for roughing. The way the Bisons defence had been playing though, not even being down a player would threaten their team as they killed the penalty successfully. Scoreless after one.

Whatever the Cougars did during the first intermission to prepare for the second period, it worked. Thirty-five seconds into the period, Regina's Rianne Wight would fire a hard wrist-shot clean past Manitoba's netminder Tara Lacquette, to put the Cougars up 1-0.

In a surprising turn of events, it seemed that Regina was controlling the pace now for most of the second period. The home side would get a few shots on net, but for the most part the action was in their own end.

It looked as though Regina could go up by two late in the second, as Manitoba's Nellie Minshull would take a two-minute roughing penalty, but ten seconds later the Cougar's Paige Wheeler would be sitting next door for holding, and we would play some four-on-four. Neither team could find a marker, despite some close chances for both sides.

Things began to get heated as the second period wrapped up, resulting in a pair of roughing penalties for both teams. Manitoba was clearly beginning to get aggravated as they faced possibly being upset by their much lower ranked opponents. Regina 1-0 at the end of the second.

The Cougars would start off the third period with a body-checking penalty, giving Manitoba an opportunity that they couldn't afford to waste. And they made good on it just in the nick of time, as Amy Lee would finally put the Bisons on the board with two seconds to go in their power play and make the score 1-1.

It was not even thirty seconds later that Manitoba would find themselves in the sin bin, sitting off an interference call. In an unfortunate turn for the Bisons, Regina's Rae-Lynn Somogyi would fire a lazy shot from the point that goalie Lacquette couldn't quite handle, and fans in the stands would watch, pained, as the puck would slowly roll across the line, putting the Cougars up by two.

The Bisons bad luck wouldn't end there. After getting a shot past Regina's goaltender, the puck would land cleanly behind her, and after quickly throwing her glove overtop of it, it would be declared no goal since the officials weren't able to get a good look at it, and the Cougars would hang on to their lead with time ticking down.

Manitoba gave it their all, but just couldn't find the tying goal. Despite out-shooting the Cougars 28-18, they would take the tough 2-1 loss.

Perhaps no one was more upset at the result of the game than Manitoba's head coach Jon Rempel, who says he definitely would have liked to have seen a better effort from his team.

"I'm highly disappointed, it was a poor effort," Rempel said on the loss. "We didn't come prepared to play and the other team wanted to win way more than we did."

The University of Manitoba Bisons women's hockey team will play next on Sunday, January 30 at 2 p.m. against the Regina Cougars once again.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info

Katie Dillon scored two goals for the Mustangs, while Lindsay Repath and Lindsay Gidomski had Western's other two goals. Tawn Rellinger had two assists, while Jessica Ulrich made 29 saves in the loss.

The Mustangs got on the board first as a Sydney Kidd shot from the point found its way to Repath's stick, who roofed into the net to make it 1-0 with 16:43 remaining in the first period.

York's Autumn Mills scored a power play goal to tie the game at 1-1but less than a minute later Dillon scored to give the Mustangs a one-goal lead again with 10:30 left. Western put the pick in the net again a minute after that but the goal was disallowed, with the ref ruling that Kailey Hooker kicked it in the net.

Autumn Mills would even the game once again after a nifty deke and shot found Ulrich's five hole with 5:30 remaining in the first period. The score would remain knotted at 2 apiece after one period.

Western had a great chance nine minutes into the second period as Repath found herself on a 1-on-1 breakaway and fired a shot that York's goaltender was able to corral.

After Katie Dillon got called for tripping, York was able to take advantage and banged home a rebound from a point shot to make it 3-2 York with 10 minutes remaining in the second period.

The Mustangs evened the score yet again as they scored just 14 seconds into a powerplay as Gidomski found the back of the net with 6:24 left in the period. The score would remaing tied at 3 heading into the final frame.

York took the lead 4-3 on a powerplay goal 5:30 into the third period. The Mustangs would answer back as Dillon tied the game slapping in a rebound on the powerplay to make it 4-4.

The tie would not last as Mills earned her hat-trick making it 5-4 with 10:27 left in the game. York iced the game with another goal with 3:35 left making it 6-4.

Source: Western Sports Info

The No. 9 ranked Lancers are now 13-9 in conference play and are tied for fourth with the Queen's Gaels.

Courtney Spoors opened the scoring for the Lancers with a power play goal six minutes into the game to give Windsor a 1-0 lead. Assists went to Jackie MacKnight and Candice Chevalier.

First year forward Candace Kourounis scored her tenth of the season with just under two minutes remaining in the period to give Windsor a two goal lead heading into the break.

Rookie Kiely Barnett scored on Toronto goaltender Nicole Kesteria for her first OUA career goal, and only goal of the period, fifteen minutes into the middle period to give Windsor a three goal lead and a bit of a cushion.

Spoors clocked her second of the game just three minutes into the period, before Kaila Dodson scored on the powerplay for her second career goal.

Jamie Tessier earned her third shut-out of the season making 17 saves for Windsor. Kesteria made 27 saves for Toronto.

The Lancers take to the ice again Sunday afternoon when they host the York Lions at 4:10pm at South Windsor Arena.

Source: Windsor Sports Info

With the loss, the women remain in the fifth and final spot of the RSEQ standings with a record of 3-7-4.

McGill notched two goals in the first that came not a minute apart. With seven minutes to go before the first intermission, Martlet Jasmine Sheehan (Mississauga, Ont.) let go of a slapshot through traffic that found the back of the net. In that same minute, Kim Ton-That (Beaconsfield, Que.) received the puck in the crease and took the open shot into the corner of the net.

Katia Clement-Heydra (St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que.) rounded out the scoring for McGill, putting them up 3-0 midway through the second.

With the Ravens unable to find the back of the net, McGill goalie Charline Labonte (Boisbriand, Que.) recorded the shutout.

The women will head to Montreal next weekend for a rematch against the Martlets on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.

Source: Carleton Sports Info

Laurier's Caitlin Muirhead evened the score at the 13:08 mark when she walked out of the corner and slid the puck past Badger goalie Kim Jory (Brandon, Man.). Sutherland responded for the Badgers 47 seconds later when streaked down the wing and fired a shot past the glove of Laurier goalie Kristen Kilgallen.

Golden Hawks forward Andrea Shapero scored the only goal of the second period when she jammed the past Jory during a scrum in front of the net. The power play marker came 3:47 into the second period, with Tammy Freiburger and Heather Fortuna picking up assists.

Tied heading into the third period, the pace was quick with both teams having chances to pull ahead. On the power play with under three minutes to play Brock's Samborski took a feed from Kelly Walker (Brampton, Ont.) and dashed toward the net, firing a shot into the top corner over the shoudler of the Laurier goalie to give the Badgers a 3-2 lead.

Jory was able to withstand the efforts of the Golden Hawksin the final minutes preserving the win for the Badgers. In total Jory made 26 saves to record her second win of the week and her OUA career. Kilgallen made 18 saves in the loss.

The win was the 20th of the season for Brock which is a school record, and also the 100th conference win in school history. The Badgers become only the third different team to record 20 wins in a season since teams began playing 20 or more games in 1998-99, joining Laurier and Toronto.

The Badgers return to action on February 5 when they host the Queen's Gaels. Puck drop from the Seymour-Hannah centre is 7:15 p.m.

Source: Brock Sports Info

The Dinos opened the game looking to bounce back after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Huskies on Friday night.

With that in mind they struck early, with Jenna Smith netting the first goal of the game 9:33 into the first. That goal came on the Dinos' first shot of the tilt after both teams traded offensive barbs in the first nine minutes with little success as shots were blocked in front of both nets or were tipped wide before reaching the goalie. That goal was set up by a Dinos attack where Cait O'Hara and Kira Sonnenberg fed Smith on the rush before the rookie forward teed up a slapshot from the high slot and beat Saskatchewan goalie Mackenzie Rizos, top corner, over the blocker.

Both Rizos and Calgary goalie Amanda Tapp were subjected to a significantly higher workload in the remainder of the first as they ended the period with eight and five shots against, respectively.

Saskatchewan would respond in the second period with a goal by Sara White. That goal was set up by a series of Saskatchewan rushes late in the period that had Tapp standing on her head to keep her team in the lead. White would best Tapp's effort at 14:44 when her first sprawling save denied the initial shot to the right of her net before the Saskatchewan forward lobbed the free puck over the Calgary netminder and tied the game.

The game winning goal came 6:16 into the third period when an impressive individual effort from Dinos assistant captain Melissa Zubick who broke into the zone and ripped a shot into the pads of Rizos. Picking up her own rebound, Zubick wristed the rubber into the back of the Huskies' net for her second goal of the year.

"We had a decent first period, an awful second period and we battled back in the third," Dinos head coach Danielle Goyette commented after the game.

When the dust settled, each team had taken 20 shots with Tapp turning away 18 of those while Rizos stopped 17.

On the power play, the Dinos went without a goal on four attempts while the Huskies failed to score on three advantages.

The win improves the Dinos record to 14-5-2, for 30 points on the season. Having already guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, the Dinos head into their final two games of the season with a good chance to host one of the two Canada West semi-finals. Saskatchewan is one of the teams chasing them as they enter the last two weeks of the regular season with their 12-7-1 record, 25 points worth, tying them with the Manitoba Bisons.

"We needed these two points going into next weekend," said Goyette. "We can't wait for other teams to lose for us if we want to host a semi-final. Now we are in charge of our own destiny.

"We can't go into next weekend thinking we only need one win though, what happens next week will set the stage for how we go into the playoffs."

The Dinos close out the regular season next weekend when they travel to Manitoba for a pair of road games at Max Bell Arena in Winnipeg – a trip that will include the completion of the Nov. 12 shootout that was suspended after a Calgary protest was upheld by Canada West.

Saskatchewan, meanwhile, hosts UBC next weekend before closing out the season with a trip to first-place Alberta.

Source: Calgary Sports Info