CIS women's hockey Saturday roundup: Chartrand steals spotlight as Martlets sink Stingers, streak stands at 101

Shwetz doubled her save total on the weekend by earning 13 more saves in game two while third-year forward Sarah Hilworth potted the game-winner.

With two Canada West teams advancing to nationals at Wilfrid Laurier University at Waterloo, ON, Alberta now awaits the results of the Calgary Dinos-Manitoba Bisons semi-final, hosting the winner next weekend in the Canada West finals at Clare Drake Arena. Both Alberta and their opponent will head off to Waterloo, March 10-13.

Much like game one of the Pandas-Huskies semi-final, Alberta got on the scoreboard early and almost at the hands of the same player.

Karla Bourke, who scored the game-winner on Friday, had a point-blank attempt on Saskatchewan 'keeper Mackenzie Rizos but the Calgary native caught the puck with her right pad and kept the bouncing rubber in front of the goal line before steering it to safety.

A minute later, however, Hilworth and sophomore forward Katie Stewart executed a perfect 2-on-1 rush before Hilworth slid the puck along the ice past Rizos for the game's only goal at the 4:18 mark of the first period.

Shwetz put an indelible mark on her second-straight shutout when, in the final seconds of the opening frame, a loose puck at the Alberta blue line created a race for the puck between the netminder and Huskie forward Julie Paetsch, the lone goal-scorer in last weekend's 1-0 victory for Saskatchewan.

The Alberta goalie dove for the puck, forcing Paetsch to jump over her, but neither player could gain control of the elusive disk, necessitating the Pandas' defence to spring into action and clear the zone while the clock ticked down to zero.

A late third-period surge by the Huskies with their goalie pulled could not produce the equalizer, the Alberta defence consistently removing the puck from danger and clearing it to center ice.

Both teams went 0-2 on the man-advantage.

Alberta hosts the best-of-three Canada West final in a week, with the challenger yet to be determined between Calgary and Manitoba.

Source: Alberta Sports Info

It wasn't easy, but the Bisons pulled off an impressive 3-2 victory over Calgary, and advanced to the Canada West Final against the University of Alberta Pandas.

Manitoba didn't waste much time before getting things going; less than two minutes after the drop of the puck in the first period, Tammy Brade got the Bisons on the board after slapping home a one-timer in front of the net, fed across to her by Becca King, and it was 1-0 for Manitoba.

With the Bisons holding on to the lead, Wickenheiser's presence was definitely noticeable, as she wasn't appearing to get a lot of down time on the bench. Things would improve for the Dinos around the halfway mark of the first period, after Manitoba net minder Tara Lacquette handed a big rebound to Elana Lovell, who snuck in behind her and buried the chance, tying the game at 1-1.

It was looking as though we might head into the second period tied at one, when a turnover in Calgary's zone found the puck on Jordyn Hrehirchuk's stick, and she sniped it top corner for her first of the playoffs, putting the Bisons up 2-1; a lead they would take into the dressing room at the end of one.

The Dinos opened the second period on a sour note, taking a body-checking penalty a mere 10 seconds in. In what was a disastrous power play for Manitoba, Calgary managed to kill off the minor penalty, and almost picked up a shorthanded goal after a hazardous giveaway by the Bison's goalie Tara Lacquette.

In what would possibly the turning point of the game, Manitoba would find themselves down by two players for over a minute in the second half of the period off of both a hooking and body checking call. With the Bisons controlling the majority of play for the entire game, Calgary would need to capitalize on the 5-on-3 opportunity if they hoped to get back in the game. Manitoba's defence proved impenetrable though, as they successfully killed off both penalties, and returned to full strength to end the scoreless second period at 2-1 Bisons.

Not having scored in close to 40 minutes, the Dinos were appearing all but defeated as the halfway mark of the third period drew closer. With Wickenheiser barely getting any down time at all, it was only a matter of time before she helped get the Dinos another marker, and it would come with less than 11 minutes to go in the third period. It would be Wickenheiser who fired the shot from the point, but Melissa Zubick would get her stick on it, and tip it past Lacquette to tie the game at 2-2 with half a period to go.

The downfall of the Dinos would ultimately come as a result of their slew of penalties in the last half of the period. It all began when Elana Lovell would sit for two off of a body checking call, and with fifteen seconds to go on the Bisons power play, Melissa Zubick would head to the sin bin after being called for crosschecking. With a 15 second 5-on-3 opportunity, it was now or never for Manitoba to get the all-important lead with such little time left on the clock.

It only took 13 of those precious seconds for Amy Lee to find the back of the net during a scramble in front, and the Bisons would go up 3-2 with five minutes left to play.

The final nail in the Dinos' coffin came with close to four minutes left to play, when Calgary's all-star player Hayley Wickenheiser, would sit for two off of a holding call, taking her out of the game for an excruciating two minutes.

There were a few scary moments for the Bisons in the dying minutes of the game, but at the final buzzer, they were still on top and would complete a two-game sweep of the Calgary Dinos, to advance to the Canada West Division Finals against the University of Alberta Pandas.

Bisons head coach Jon Rempel says that he's relieved to have the Calgary series, and Wickenheiser, behind him and his team.

"I thought it was a hard fought battle between two evenly matched teams," Rempel says. "I think we showed a lot of character and a lot of perseverance this weekend. We didn't let the second goal get us down, and we bounced right back. It was a good, hard-fought series."

I thought we did a really good job on her tonight," Rempel says on his team's handling of Hayley Wickenheiser. "For as much as she played, we just tried to make her minutes hard minutes. You have to respect her ability and her experience. It was a team effort against her, not just one or two people, so that worked out nicely."

The Manitoba Bisons will play next in the Canada West Final, against the Alberta Pandas over the February 25-27 weekend in the Pandas hometown. Stay glued to GoBisons.ca for all your Manitoba Bisons results and news.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info

The first period saw both teams struggle to establish a rhythm. Both goaltenders stood tall under offensive pressure that was often directly in front of their respective creases. Dodd-Moher came up big for the Gaels on two penalty kills in the period and finished the frame with 14 saves.

With the Gaels shorthanded, Windsor broke the deadlock halfway through the second period when Courtney Spoors of Kingsville, Ont., put a loose puck past Dodd-Moher in the slot. The Gaels came close to equalizing several times after the Windsor goal but ultimately could not solved Jamie Tessier of Copper Cliff, Ont., who held up under pressure for Windsor.

The third period was played at an exciting pace which saw only one whistle in ten minutes of action. With the Lancers' Canadace Kourounis of Markham, Ont., in the penalty box for roughing, the Gaels found a way to capitalize as Brittany McHaffie of Guelph, Ont., tipped Michelle Hunt's (Mississauga, Ont.) shot past Tessier in the Lancer goal to put Queen's on the board. McHaffie's goal would be the lone marker in the third period, and the teams would need overtime.

Overtime was tightly contested with many opportunities for both teams. With four minutes remaining the Gaels received their best opportunity of the period as Thomson was left all alone in front of the Windsor net, but ultimately could not beat the Windsor keeper. Neither team could muster the winning goal in the first overtime period, and a second was needed.

The Gaels got their first great chance of the second overtime roughly five minutes into the period when Thomson was left alone in the slot once again, but Tessier stopped her one-time attempt for the second time in the game. Halfway through the second it appeared as though the Gaels had scored the game winner, but it was waved off by the official because it was pushed into the goal with a hand. Two minutes later, with Spoors in the Lancer penalty box, Thomson would finally break through on her third close attempt as she took a pass inside the faceoff dot from Becky Conroy of Pembroke, Ont., and tucked her shot into the top right corner of Windsor's goal.

Dodd-Moher made 46 saves in goal for the Gaels, and out-dueled Windsor's Jamie Tessier who had 41.

Morgan McHaffie of Guelph, Ont., was the lone player to pick up multiple points in the contests as she assisted on both of the Gaels markers.

With the win the Gaels advance to the OUA semifinal and will face either the Laurier Golden Hawks or the Brock Badgers depending on the outcome of Sunday's Guelph vs. Toronto Quarter-final.

Source: Queen's Sports Info