CIS women's hockey Friday roundup: Dinos Zubick's OT winner knocks Bisons out

TORONTO – UOIT freshman Jennifer Daly scored with 39 seconds left in overtime as the Ridgebacks defeated Ryerson 2-1 in women’s hockey on Friday night.

The win was UOIT’s tenth of the season as they improve to 10-15-0 this year.

UOIT senior Vanessa Johnstone (Niagara Falls, Ont.) scored her tenth goal of the year midway through the first period to open up scoring in the game.

The Ridgebacks held on to their one goal lead late into the third period, but Ryerson’s Jessica Hartwick (Brampton, Ont.) broke up the UOIT shutout with five minutes left.

UOIT would maintain their composure in the extra frame, as they generated plenty of scoring opportunities. Daly (Ajax, Ont.) finished the game scoring off a rebound, sending the bench onto the ice in celebration. Rikki Palmateer (Cobourg, Ont.) and Stephanie Spencer (Whitby, Ont.) recorded assists on Daly’s sixth goal of the season.

UOIT goaltender Emma Thompson (Hastings, Ont.) made 29 saves in her 12th career victory. Emma Crawley stopped 21 of 23 Ridgeback shots.

Both teams were 1-for-7 with the man advantage.

Despite picking up the win, UOIT was eliminated from post-season contention as Western defeated Windsor 4-2 in London.

The Ridgebacks will close out their regular season on Saturday afternoon with a game against the Toronto Varsity Blues.

Source: UOIT Sports Info

WATERLOO, Ont. - Devon Skeats of Whitby, Ont., scored the game-winning goal midway through the first period as the No. 1 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (24-0-1) defeated the Brock Badgers (11-13-1) by a score of 3-1 on Friday night.

The victory pushes Laurier's winning streak to 17 games as they remain undefeated in 2012.

The Hawks got off to a quick start in this game as Paula Lagamba of Toronto, finished off a nice feed from Maureen Mommersteeg of St. Thomas, Ont., to give Laurier a 1-0 lead less than eight minutes into the opening frame.

Five minutes later off a faceoff in the Badgers zone, Skeats fired home a backhander past Brock goaltender Emily Kelly of Port Elgin, Ont., stretching the Hawks lead to two after the first period.

Laurier would turn up the offensive pressure in the second period, firing 16 shots at Kelly but were unable to beat her until the period was nearly out. With 10 seconds left in the frame, defenceman Fiona Lester of Peterborough, Ont., buried a loose puck in the slot over the shoulder of Kelly to give Laurier a 3-0 lead.

Late in the third period, Brock would spoil Erika Thunder's (Buffalo Point, Man.) shutout bid thanks to a powerplay goal from Jessica Fickel of Fort Erie, Ont., but it was too little, too late as Laurier earned their 24th win of the season.

Thunder turned aside 13 shots in the win, her 18th of the season, while Kelly made 37 saves in a losing effort.

"It was awesome to get the win tonight," said Lester following the victory. "I think we played well and we played a full 60 minute game which is good."

With the loss, the Badgers drop into eighth in the OUA standings, setting up a potential rematch with the Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs.

Laurier now prepares to take on the No. 6 Guelph Gryphons (18-5-1) in their final regular season game tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Waterloo Memorial Recreational Complex.

Source: Laurier Sports Info

LONDON, Ont.- The Western Mustangs took to the ice Friday in a must win affair against the Windsor Lancers. After a seesaw battle, the Mustangs came out on top of a 4-2 win.

Western was able to capitalize on the powerplay at 10:29 when Marianne Filson scored her third goal of the season. Lindsay Gidomski and Katelyn Gosling received assists on the goal.

The Lancers tied it up less then a minute later at 11:25 when Candice Chevalier from Manon Davis and Kiely Barnett got the momentum going in favour of Windsor.

The Mustangs regained the lead at 3:09 of the second when Emilie Canham beat Lancers goalie Julia Ouroumis. Tawn Rellinger and Samantha Nastasiuk drew assists on Canham’s fourth goal of the season.

Despite outshooting Windsor 15-6, Western could not muster any more goals in the second frame.

After killing off a crucial two-man advantage, Mustangs Sydney Kidd riffled a shot off the crossbar which was finished by Kendra Deller at 3:15 of the third. Deller’s sixth goal of the season was also assisted by Stacey Scott.

The Lancers were not giving up however, as they pulled to within one at 5:54. Jane Gaffney from Barnett and Candace Kourounis gave Windsor some hope.

A few minutes later Mustangs Allison Galloway rang one of the cross bar as she was inches from restoring her team’s two goal lead.

Nastasiuk was in on a break-a-way not too long after, but was robbed by Ouroumis who made an unreal glove save to keep the score at 3-2 in favour of Western.

The Mustangs finally got some breathing room as they struck once again on the powerplay as Gidosmki scored her fifth of the season at 13:08. Filson and Carly Rolph assisted on the goal.

Windsor failed to gain any momentum in the remaining minutes, giving Western a much needed two points.

The Mustangs play their final game of the season Sunday, February 12th against the York Lions.

Source: Western Sports Info

SASKATOON - Tallying five goals in the third period, the No. 8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies trounced the UBC Thunderbirds 9-1 Friday night in Saskatoon’s Rutherford Rink.

Five different Huskies found the net in the victory including a hat trick by Danny Stone and two each by veteran fifth-year Breanne George and rookie Paige Anakaer. Julie Paetsch, Julia Flinton and Megan Frohaug each had two assists in the high scoring affair.

With the win the Huskies improve to 15-6-2 and clinch a Canada West playoff spot for the fifth straight season. Saskatchewan also moves one step closer to securing a home playoff date. A combination of a win by the Huskies in Saturday’s game and a loss by the Alberta Pandas will give the Huskies hosting rights for the first time in history.

UBC falls to 1-20-2 after the loss.

Anakaer tallied her first of the game and season at 3:35 in the first period to open the scoring. UBC’s Amanda Asay found the net in the T-Birds lone goal at 13:19 in the same frame. Cara Wooster pulled the Huskies ahead 2-1 at 14:21. George struck on the power play at 6:21 in the second and Stone scored her first at 19:30 also with the man advantage.

The flood gates opened in the third period. Anakaer tallied first at 6:24, followed by Stone at 11:11, George at 13:07 on the power play, Kandace Cook at 13:53 and Stone again at 15:40.

Carly Butcher made 21 saves in the game for the T-Birds, while Mackenzie Rizos stopped 17 for the Huskies in the win. Saskatchewan finished the game 3-for-6 with the man advantage, while UBC failed to capitalize on three power play opportunities.

The two teams will meet again Saturday night in the final game of the Canada West regular season for both teams. Puck drop is 7 p.m.

Source: Saskatchewan Sports Info

Going into their final two games on the regular season, the University of Manitoba Bisons women’s hockey team needed a weekend sweep of the University of Calgary Dinos in order to make the playoffs. Anything less would result in the end to their season.

Even without all-star forward Hayley Wickenheiser on Friday, February 10 evening, the Dinos were able to pull out a 3-2 overtime win over Manitoba, ensuring that the Herd doesn’t make the post-season for the first time in seven years.

Calgary’s goals were scored by Erika Mitschke, Tanya Morgan, and Melissa Zubick had the OT winner.  Net minder Jennifer Mallard made 24 saves on the evening.

The Bisons’ goals were notched by Meagan Vestby and Maggie Litchfield-Medd. Leiette Klassen started in net, and made 16 saves.

With the result of the game, the Manitoba falls to 12-7-4 on their season and the Dinos remain at the top of the Canada West division with a record of 19-4-0.

“We deserved to win the game, but if you can’t finish you can’t finish, and that’s what cost us,” said Bisons head coach Jon Rempel on the loss. “We did everything we could to win the game but didn’t have enough.”

The Dinos looked like the better team right out of the gate in the first period, putting up five shots on goal before Manitoba found their first.  The game’s first goal was notched by Calgary’s Erika Mitschke after teammate Jenna Smith made a nice drop pass to her, opening up a lot of ice and allowing Mitschke to snipe a wrister over the shoulder of Bisons’ net minder Leiette Klassen for the 1-0 lead.

While Manitoba had a few opportunities on the power play to tie things up, they couldn’t get the man-advantage working for them before the buzzer, ending the first period at 1-0 for the Dinos.

Whatever the discussion was in the Bisons’ dressing room between periods, it must have been a good one, as it only took them 37 seconds in the second period to get things tied up.  Meagan Vestby found the puck on her stick with a scrum in front of Calgary’s net, and fired it home to tie the game at 1-1.

As the halfway mark of the second approached, the Dinos quieted the home crowd once again as Calgary’s Iya Gabrilova dangled her way to the front of the net and fed captain Tanya Morgan on the other side of the cage, who buried it to give the Dinos a 2-1 lead.

Down a goal and not ready to hit the showers yet, Manitoba’s Maggie Litchfield-Medd left the entire Max Bell Centre speechless when she undressed not one, but two Dinos defencemen, faked goaltender Jennifer Mallard to the ground, and buried a backhand shot top shelf, tying the game at 2-2.

With the score tied at two, the third period promised to be an exciting one as the Bisons had 20 minutes of work left to try and keep their playoff hopes afloat.

With the Bisons desperate to get in a playoff spot and Calgary trying to keep them out, the third period was a stalemate right to the end, despite a pair of controversial “no goal” calls for Manitoba.  With the score still tied 2-2, the two teams headed into overtime.

Only 30 seconds into the first overtime period, the Bisons’ Nellie Minshull was hooked on her way to the net, and Manitoba had a 4-on-3 advantage for two minutes as they tried to find the game-winner.

The Bisons had more than one great opportunity to finish it with the man-advantage, but couldn’t get it done.  With things back to 4-on-4, and time running out in the first overtime period, the Dinos’ Melissa Zubick snuffed out Manitoba’s playoff hopes after a second-effort on a breakaway, ending the game at 3-2 Calgary.

The Manitoba Bisons play next in a rematch of tonight’s game against the Calgary Dinos on Saturday, February 11.  The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT at the Max Bell Centre.

Source: Manitoba Sports Info