CIS women's hockey Friday roundup: Huskies mount push, but Dinos solidify grasp on first place

MONTREAL - It may have been a long and winding road to travel for a three-kilometre trek to the other side of Mt. Royal but the visiting No.2-ranked McGill women's hockey team squeaked past the Université de Montreal Carabins 2-1 at CEPSUM Arena, Friday and clinched first place for the seventh straight year in the Quebec league.

With three games remaining before playoffs, the division-leading Martlets improved to 15-1-1 for 31 points, a comfortable 10-point cushion over the second-place Carabins (10-5-1) who at best, can finish with 29 points in the RSEQ standings.

Kim Ton-That, a junior forward from Beaconsfield, Que., snapped a 1-1 draw with her sixth of the season at 4:50 of the final period and it held up as the game-winner. Leslie Oles, also from Beaconsfield had given McGill a 1-0 lead before the game was four minutes old but Carabins blueliner Jessica Bong evened the score at 1-1 midway through the middle stanza

The day wasn't without drama, however, as the McGill team bus got stuck in the snow and ice when maneuvering around the friendly confines of McConnell Arena in anticipation of a 15-minute jaunt to the U de M campus. The Martlets lucked out because there just happened to be another bus in the parking lot. It had just finished transporting the Concordia men's hockey team to McGill for 7 p.m. face-off against the Redmen. Concordia agreed to do McGill a favour and let their bus transport the Martlets to their game. Due to the logistics of where the two busses were located, it took the Martlets close to an hour to load the second bus with their equipment and by the time they arrived at U de M, they were more than an hour late and had had just 20 minutes to get on the ice for the pre-game warm-up slated for 6:30 p.m.

As a result, McGill appeared somewhat lethargic for the first part of the game as the Carabins had a 14-9 advantage in shots after the first period and a 14-12 edge in the middle session.

Goaltender Charline Labonté was on her game, however, and kept the Martlets in this one until they found their legs in the final period. The fifth-year senior from Boisbriand, Que., was credited with 31 saves, improving her record to 13-2 on the season and 79-3-0 in 82 career regular-season starts in CIS play.

Carabins rookie netminder Elodie Rousseau-Sirois of Pte. Claire, Que., made 29 saves in a losing cause and fell to 9-5

McGill is slated to play an exhibition game against the NMHL's Montreal Stars on Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. but there has been some discussion that it may be cancelled. After that, they are slated to host the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Feb. 10.

Source: McGill Sports Info

OSHAWA, Ont. – The UOIT Ridgebacks women’s hockey team suffered a tough loss in their regular season home finale on Friday night as they were defeated 3-1 by the Waterloo Warriors.

Waterloo jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead as they scored two goals off of screen shots in the opening ten minutes of the game.

In the second period, UOIT looked like a completely different team as they outshot Waterloo 16-7. The Ridgebacks hard work would pay off as Violette Long scored her first goal of the season to cut the Warriors lead to 2-1. Jill Morillo and Sarah Worthington recorded assists on the play.

Three minutes into the third period, Waterloo would regain their two-goal lead as Kelly MacLean scored her second goal of the night.

The Ridgebacks had a great chance to get back into the game as they had a lengthy 5-on-3 with ten minutes left in the game, but Waterloo goalie Rebecca Bouwhuis shut down UOIT’s power play unit.

Bouwhuis finished the night with 38 saves in the win while Jessica Larabie stopped 23 of 26 Waterloo shots.

UOIT was 0-for-9 on the power play and Waterloo was 1-for-7.

Despite the loss, UOIT (9-15-0) still have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs with two road games remaining in the regular season.

UOIT will travel to Ryerson on Friday and Toronto on Saturday.

The 2012 UOIT women’s hockey senior class of Rikki Palmateer, Vanessa Johnstone, Breanne Hadley, Emma Thompson, Jordan Whately and Kara Carter were all honoured prior to the game.

Source: UOIT Sports Info

KINGSTON, Ont. – The No. 10 Queen's Gaels (11-8-3) could not find a way to beat Erika Thunder of Buffalo Point, Man. and the Laurier Golden Hawks (22-0-1) in a 7-0 loss.

The Golden Hawks, number one in the country, scored two times in the first followed by two more in the second and three in the final period. Laurier has yet to lose this season in regulation and improved to 22-0-1 on the season.

Karissa Savage of Calgary got the start for the Gaels and made 25 saves in a losing effort, Mel Dodd-Moher of Stittsville, Ont. stopped seven shots in relief. Thunder stopped all 23 shots from the Gaels for the shutout.

Andrea Shapero of Toronto, who had three goals and two assists, led the Golden Hawks while Jessie Hurrell of Palgrave, Ont. had a four point night with two goals and two helpers.

The Gaels will look to bounce back tomorrow night when they take on the Waterloo Warriors at the Memorial Centre at 7:30pm.

Source: Queen's Sports Info

Lethbridge – Playing in their final weekend of the season and looking to take another step towards the teams’ first playoff in five years, the Lethbridge Pronghorns were upset by the fifth place Regina Cougars 5-0 Friday night.

The ‘Horns entered the weekend with a strangle hold on the fourth and final playoff spot after last weekend’s sweep of the Bisons, taking a five point lead on said Bisons. With the Bisons holding two games in hand the ‘Horns needed three points on the weekend to clinch.

Regina received goals from Hillary Lerat, Kaitlin Sherven, Rianne Wright and Kendra Finch. Jennifer Schmidt earned her second shutout of the season with a 23 save performance.

Crystal Patterson stopped 19 of 23 Cougars shots through two period of play, before giving way to Shauntelle Parsons, who made five saves in only her third appearance of the season.

With the loss the ‘Horns fall to 13-8-2 on the season, while the Cougars improve to 7-13-1.
Regina opened the scoring while on the power play, as Hillary Lerat’s shot squeaked through Patterson’s five-hole just past the midway point of the opening frame.

Less than three minutes later, Sherven was able to corral a loose puck during a goal mouth scramble and double the Cougar lead.

In addition to taking a two goal lead after the opening frame, the Cougars also held the advantage on the shot clock, 14-10.

After nearly 16 minutes of a stalemate, the Cougars were back at it,  Rianne Wright broke in alone from the ‘Horns blue line and made no mistake sliding the puck through Patterson’s five-hole.

With time winding down in the second frame, the Cougars made it 4-0 with only 3.4 seconds remaining. Sherven and Kendra Finch broke in on a two-on-one with Sherven sliding the puck across to Finch just above the crease, who lifted a shot up and over Patterson.

On an early third period power play, the Cougars upped their lead to five to round out the scoring. Finch redirected a point shot from Carleen Meszaros past Parsons.

The ‘Horns will conclude the 2011-12 season tomorrow night hosting the Cougars again, puck drops at 7:00pm at Nicholas Sheran Arena. The game can also be viewed at canadawest.tv, the home of all Canada West webcasts.

Source: Lethbridge Sports Info

CALGARY – Erika Mitschke scored two goals and added an assist while Hayley Wickenheiser scored one of each as the No. 3 University of Calgary Dinos inched closer to clinching first place with a 5-3 win over the No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night at Canada Olympic Park.

Calgary (17-4-0) can clinch top spot in Canada West with a repeat performance in Saturday night's rematch, while the Huskies (14-5-2) sit four points back of Calgary and one in arrears of Alberta with three games left on the season.

The Dinos' eighth straight win came after an impressive first period saw them shoot out to a 3-1 lead before undisciplined penalties gave the Huskies their share of chances – and they pulled within one midway through the third period. It was never quite comfortable for Calgary until Mitchke scored her second with just over five minutes left to make it 5-3.

“We started on the right track, but I was pretty disappointed in the second period because we let them back in the game,” said Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette. “We responded in the third period, but again discipline cost us a couple of goals tonight. We need to improve that tomorrow, because we need to stay five-on-five.

“Credit to Saskatchewan – they don't give up no matter what the score, and we need to just keep playing until we hear the final buzzer.”

The Huskies opened the scoring when Julie Paetsch notched her 13th of the season on a two-man advantage with Melissa Zubick and Iya Gavrilova in the penalty box for Calgary. Less than three minutes later, Jenna Smith tied it up for the Dinos on the power play of their own.

Mitchke's first of the night came just 73 seconds later as the Dinos continued to buzz around the Saskatchewan crease, peppering Vanessa Frederick with 14 shots in the opening frame. Zubick added her fifth of the season at the 15:47 mark to make it 3-1 Calgary.

With the teams skating four-on-four in the middle period, Wickenheiser stole the puck in the neutral zone and moved in all alone on Frederick. Making no mistake, she scored her 14th of the season to move her back into a tie for the scoring lead in the conference with Paetsch, who had briefly taken the lead with her first-period goal. It made the score 4-1 Calgary, though eventually it would end up as the game-winner.

Danny Stone got the Huskies back within one at the 9:00 mark of the second with another power play tally, and Cara Wooster cut the lead to just one with just over 11 minutes to play in the third. But again Wickenheiser was the catalyst for the Calgary offence, emerging from the penalty box to lead a two-on-one up-ice for the Dinos. Wickenheiser sent a nice feed across to Mitschke, who scored her eighth of the season as an insurance marker at 14:57.

Saskatchewan went 2-for-10 on the power play, while the Dinos were successful on one of their eight opportunities as a parade to the penalty box resulted in 20 minor penalties on the night. Frederick made 25 saves in the loss for the Huskies, while Amanda Tapp earned her 13th win of the season between the pipes for the Dinos, stopping 17 of the 20 shots fired her way.

The series shifts one rink over to the Joan Snyder Arena Saturday night, and the Dinos get a chance to finish first in the conference for the first time in program history – something Goyette says is certainly not lost on her team.

“We know how important this weekend is for us,” she said. “We know first place is available, and we want to be at home in the playoffs – we saw last year how difficult it is to win on the road in the playoffs. Tomorrow we need to go for the second win.”

Face-off goes at 7:30 p.m. MT.

Source: Calgary Sports Info

VANCOUVER – Addie Miles scored the first two goals of the game to lead her Manitoba Bisons to a 4-0 shutout of the UBC Thunderbirds at Father David Bauer Arena in Vancouver on Friday night.
 
Maggie Litchfield-Medd and Meagan Vestby added the other markers for the Bisons, who improve to 11-7-3.
 
Goaltender Leiette Klassen stopped all 14 UBC shots for her second shutout of the season.
 
“I thought we really competed,” remarked UBC head coach Jen Rawson.  “We battled and again, I don't think the score was totally indicative of how the game was going.  I think we frustrated them and kept a good compete level and really challenged so I think it was positive despite the loss.”
 
Miles opened the scoring at 8:01 of the first period as she stepped in from the right point and fired a shot that beat UBC goaltender Samantha Langford (1st, Pense, SK) high, short side.
 
Miles added an insurance goal early in the second at 3:57 as she went five-hole on Langford with a shot that slid right along the ice.
 
The power play marker was Miles' seventh goal of the year.
 
Langford stopped 28 shots in a losing cause for UBC, which could only dress 15 players because of injuries, including just four defenders.
 
“They really seemed to rise to the occasion and they really enjoyed just going and going with really no time to think and they just had to react,” said Rawson about the players who did dress.  “It actually seemed to work in their favour a little bit.  Hopefully, fatigue won't set in tomorrow.”
 
Rawson also praised the play of Langford, who was making her third straight start.
 
The Thunderbirds' record drops to 1-18-2 and the team has lost 13 straight games in regulation time.
 
Manitoba is now three points behind Lethbridge for the fourth and final Canada West playoff spot and the Bisons also have two games in hand.
 
UBC and Manitoba will face off again on Saturday night at Father David Bauer Arena, with the opening faceoff at 7 p.m. 

Source: UBC Sports Info