CIS women's hockey Friday roundup: No. 3 Dinos dismantle quick-starting Pronghorns

TORONTO-  Caitlyn Bridges scored the only goal in the shootout, and the Waterloo Warriors slipped past the Ryerson Rams women's hockey team, picking up a 3-2 victory at George Bell Arena on Friday evening.

"(It was) our first game back and I thought we got better as the game went on," said Head Coach Lisa Jordan. "We ran out of gas in overtime but I think that's the as close as we've come to competing for 60 minutes."

The Rams held a 2-1 lead on goals by Chloe Richardson (Calgary) and Emily Rose Galliani Pecchia (Toronto) after two periods of play, but Julia Endicott connected on a power-play marker at the 4:25 mark of the third to even the contest.

Captain Kyla Thurston (Ajax, Ont.) had a chance to end the game with mere seconds left to go in regulation, but was stymied on poke-check by Martina Michaud.

Michaud made 21 saves and went on to stop Thurston, Lauren McCusker (Newmarket, Ont.) and Galliani Pecchia in the shootout, while Emma Crawley (Herring Cove, N.S.) tallied 27 saves while stopping Waterloo's first two shooters.

Each squad tallied a power-play marker, Ryerson going 1-for-6 while Waterloo was 1-for-5.

"We wanted to get two points out of that game, but we'll take some good things away from it," said Jordan. "Tough break in the shootout, but it's a good step in the right direction for us."

The Rams will have to re-group quickly as they are welcoming the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks (15-0-1) to George Bell Arena tomorrow afternoon for a 2:00 p.m. puck-drop. The game can be seen online at the Live Video page.

Source: Ryerson Sports Info

MONTREAL - Ann-Sophie Bettez of Sept-Iles, Que., scored four points and netminder Charline Labonté registered her fourth shutout in 10 starts as the No.1-ranked McGill Martlets blanked Concordia 4-0 in women's university hockey at Ed Meagher Arena, Friday.

It was the 11th straight victory for McGill, which upped their win streak over Concordia to 40 consecutive games dating back to 2006, outshot the Stingers 44-13, including a 21-4 advantage in the second period.

Labonté from Boisbriand, Que., made 13 saves to extend her CIS career shutout record to 41 and improve to 74-2-0 lifetime in 76 regular season starts.

Bettez, who set up a pair of first-period power-play markers by St Bruno de Montarville, Que., native Katia Clement-Heydra, made it 3-0 in the middle stanza when she scored with the man-advantage. She registered a third helper on a final period goal by rookie Mélodie Daoust, who finished with a three-point performance of her own.

It was a rough-and-tumble affair featuring 13 minor penalties, 10 of them going to the Stingers. McGill made them pay huge dividends, going 3-for-9 on the power play. Concordia was 0-for-1 with the extra attacker.

"They were very physical and paid the price as our power play clicked real well," said McGill head coach Peter Smith. "Bettez looked great and is on a bit of a roll right now."

The 24-year-old senior is gunning for her third RSEQ scoring crown and currenly leads the scoring race by four points, with a 9-13-22 record in 12 contests.

Marie-Pier Remillard made 40 saves in a losing cause as her record fell to 3-9 on the season. She has started all 12 games for the Stingers thus far.

McGill, which sits atop the Quebec conference with an 11-1, record, will host second-place Montreal (8-3-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. The cross-town rivals have met three times this season, with McGill holding a 2-1 advantage. The Martlets won 6-1 at U de M on Oct. 14 but Montreal  bounced back to snap McGill's 107-game win streak against RSEQ opponents with a shocking 3-2 upset on Oct. 29 at McConnell Arena. McGill avenged that setback three weeks later, however, with a 10-1 blow-out at U de M on Nov. 18.

Source: McGill Sports Info

REGINA - Rianne Wight broke a tie late in the second period and the University of Regina's women's hockey team pulled away in the third as the Cougars took a 5-2 home win over the UBC Thunderbirds on Friday night in a Canada West game at The Co-operators Centre.
 
Wight fired a shot from the slot following a faceoff win that went off the post and in, giving the Cougars a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The victory improves Regina's Canada West record to 5-11-1 on the season.
 
“We got off to a bit of a slow start, but we got better as the game went on and I thought we finished very strong,” Cougars head coach Sarah Hodges said. “(Paige) Wheeler got us that shorty to get us on the board and I thought Wight had a real solid game as well.”
 
Katelyn Kennedy added a goal four minutes into the third after picking a rebound out of midair, giving the Cougars a 4-2 lead. Wight put the game away with an empty-netter in the final minute, giving the fourth-year forward her first multiple-goal game of the season.
 
Fifth-year goalie Lisa Urban got the start between the pipes for the Cougars (5-11-1) and stopped 32 UBC shots to secure her third win of the season. Samantha Langford made 24 saves for the Thunderbirds, who held a 34-28 shot advantage despite losing.
 
Tatiana Rafter opened the scoring for UBC midway through the first with helpers from Amanda Asay and Rebecca Unrau. The Cougars replied with under three minutes left in the opening frame, as Kennedy was whistled for a hooking minor but Regina's Wheeler notched a shorthanded goal to tie up the game heading into first intermission.
 
Rookie forward Stephanie Sawchuk scored her third of the season on the power play midway through the second period to give the Cougars a brief 2-1 lead, but Asay scored less than three minutes later to knot the contest at two. Wight put the Cougars in the lead for good five minutes after Asay's goal.
 
Both UBC and Regina were 1-for-5 on the power play.
 
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Source: Regina Sports Info

EDMONTON - The No.9 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies kept their hold on first place in Canada West by virtue of a 1-0 win Friday night over the No.7 ranked University of Alberta Pandas at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton.

Danny Stone scored the lone goal of the evening, giving the Huskies the win and pushing them to a 13-4 record.  Huskies goalie Vanessa Frederick made 33 saves for the shutout and the win.

The Pandas outshot their visitors 33-17 and had copious opportunities to score, but couldn’t beat Frederick between the pipes.  With the loss, Alberta drops to 8-3-6 on the season and now trail Saskatchewan by four points for first place.

Adding to the drama is the fact that Calgary is now tied with the Pandas for points, while Lethbridge has 21 points and Manitoba has 20 points.  The top four teams qualify for the Canada West playoffs and with five teams currently in the hunt, Alberta will need to rebound on Saturday and pick up a win to stay in the mix.

Considering the special teams pedigree of both Alberta and Saskatchewan coming into the weekend series, the Huskies have the top tanked PP and second best PK, while Pandas’ player Sarah Hilworth leads Canada West with nine power-play assists, it is fitting that the only goal of the game came with the man advantage.

Stone redirected Julia Flinton’s blue-line slap-pass past Alberta goalie Kaitlyn Chapman at 4:02 of the first period for the lone tally on four Saskatchewan PP opportunities.

The Pandas, meanwhile, had 10 chances with an extra skater and although they generated plenty of chances, including goal mouth scrambles and pucks rung off posts, they simply couldn’t score the goal they needed to get back into the game.

Both Chapman and Frederick were strong in goal tonight, but Saskatchewan’s penalty kill was clearly the star of the game.

The two teams will clash again tomorrow night, 7:00 pm, at Clare Drake Arena.

Source: Alberta Sports Info