Courtesy of Kelsey Pye (host organizing committee) / Photo credit Keith Minchin
FREDERICTON (CIS) – The fourth-seeded University of Saskatchewan Huskies topped the No. 6 and tournament host St. Thomas University Tommies 3-2 in a hard-fought Pool A game at the Scotiabank CIS women's hockey championship at the Grant Harvey Centre in Fredericton on Friday.
Huskies head coach Steve Kook said it was critical to bounce
back after losing their first game.
"We talked about simple things - beating one guy and having someone
else there to support the puck. And that's something that we
weren't doing at the beginning," he said.
"Maybe you take STU for granted just a little bit and you try to
skate through the neutral zone and they did such a good job with
sticks and bodies."
The Huskies lost against the top-seeded Université de
Montreal Carabins 3-0 Thursday night. Montreal will play St. Thomas
Saturday night.
Both teams came out ready to play. The Huskies battled hard, but
the Tommies were ready to fight. St. Thomas worked well on the
forecheck and was able to keep the Huskies in the neutral zone. STU
had some great chances throughout the period, but Saskatchewan
goalie Cassidy Hendricks was able to keep the game scoreless. After
20, the shots favoured the Tommies 12-5.
The second period saw more back and forth play. The Huskies were on
the board first with a goal from Sara Greschner at 7:47. STU's
Emily Ryan answered right back with a goal only 35 seconds later.
The Huskies and the Tommies were both fighting hard to get the next
goal and both teams tallied 11 shots in the second.
STU's Kelty Apperson said Emily Ryan's goal was crucial for keeping
the team's spirit up.
"We couldn't have asked for a better goal at a better time...the
crowd was still cheering for us after [Saskatchewan's] goal. We
could feel the energy on the bench and then 35 seconds later, we
just put one in and it just gave us more fire," she said.
The final 20 minutes saw even more action, as both teams were
looking to break the tie. The Huskies stepped up their systems,
keeping the play in STU's end for longer periods of time.
Saskatchewan's Greschner grabbed a second goal with only 6:27 left
to play, while Kaitlin Willoughby scored a power-play goal a minute
later. The Tommies were able to score on the power-play with only
15 seconds left, but the Huskies walked away with a 3-2 win. Shots
favoured the Tommies 33-25.
Kook expected the Tommies to play a hard game, despite being seeded
last in the tournament.
"I know we don't have a whole lot of experience at national
championships but you sure expect all the teams to come out ready
to play, especially when meaningful games are still on the line,"
he said.
The atmosphere was felt by both teams. Over 1,500 fans turned up to
watch the game, and the parents of Huskies forward Sara Greschner
brought along a train horn to pump up Saskatchewan fans.
Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said no matter the score, he was
impressed with how the team played.
"I'd be proud of them whatever happens, but to come out with that
effort after playing against teams that had played as recently as
the day before as hard as they did...I was really pleased with
that."
Murphy said the Tommies will regroup and be ready to take on the
top-seeded Montreal Carabins tomorrow.
"It's a challenge but so was today. So you can sit there and say
[Montreal] is this and that, they're the number one team...You can
go through it all as much as you want but it's not a math
test."
The Scotiabank CIS women's hockey championship continues Saturday
afternoon when the fifth-seeded McGill takes on third-seeded
Universit de Moncton.
SCHEDULE, RESULTS & POOL STANDINGS (all times ATLANTIC TIME)
Pool
A GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1.
MTL 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 3
2. SASK 2 1 0 0 1 3 5 3
3.
STU 1 0 0 0 1 2 3 0
Pool
B GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1.
McG 1 1 0 0 0 4 1 3
2. WLU 2 1 0 0 1 7 4 3
3.
MCT 1 0 0 0 1 0 6 0
NOTE (scoring system):
Win in regulation (W): 3 points
Win in overtime or shootout (OTW): 2 points
Loss in overtime or shootout (OTL): 1 point
Loss in regulation (L): 0 point
Thursday, March 13
14:00 Pool B #1: McGill 4, Wilfrid Laurier 1
19:00 Pool A #1: Montreal 3, Saskatchewan 0
Friday, March 14
14:00 Pool B #2: Wilfrid Laurier 6, Moncton 0
19:00 Pool A #2: Saskatchewan 3, St. Thomas 2
Saturday, March 15
14:00 Pool B #3: No. 5 McGill vs. No. 3 Moncton (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool A #3: No. 1 Montreal vs. No. 6 St. Thomas (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
Sunday, March 16
10:00 5th Place (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Final (Sportsnet 360 & www.CIS-SIC.tv)
* The webcast of the championship final will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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