(Antigonish, N.S.) - The visiting Saint Mary's Huskies (6-2) skated to a 4-1 win over the CIS #8 ranked StFX X-Women (3-4-1) in AUS hockey action Thursday night at the Keating Centre in Antigonish.
In the first period, Caitlyn Schell (Waterford, ON) opened the scoring for the Huskies, when she roofed a backhander top shelf over Pascale Daigle (Irishtown, NB). Caitlyn Manning (Cambridge, ON) notched the lone assist on the marker, which came at the 7:45 mark.
Daigle was the story for the home side in the first 20 minutes, making several key saves for the X-Women, including back-to-back stops on Gemma MacDonald (Blooming Point, PEI). She also stoned Schell from in close, after the Saint Mary's forward walked out in front of the StFX net unchecked.
Off a turnover just inside the Saint Mary's blue line, on an X-Women power play late in the first period, Schell broke in shorthanded, but she could not beat Daigle with a deke to the forehand.
The X-Women garnered only two shots on goal in the first period.
In a scoreless second period, Daigle continued to keep the Huskies off the score sheet, while the best offensive opportunity for the X-Women came with less than 20 seconds left in the frame. Sarah Bujold (Riverview, NB) took a centering pass in the slot, but Rebecca Clark (Keswick, ON) made the save on a hard wrist shot and smothered the rebound for a whistle.
With a pair of goals from Nicole Blanche (Dunville, NL) in less than three minutes during the first 10 minutes of the third period, the Huskies jumped to a 3-0 advantage. At 7:07, while shorthanded, the junior forward shook off a back check by Nicole Halladay (Smiths Falls, ON) and beat Daigle from a sharp angle. After tallying, she tumbled heavily into the boards, but she returned to action.
At 9:44, Blanche banged in a shot from the lip of the crease, with assists going to Schell and Manning, to make it 3-0.
The X-Women sliced the deficit to two, when Kara Power (New Glasgow, NS) ripped a shot under the cross bar behind Clark from the top of the slot. She took a centering pass from Daley Oddy (Cranbrook, BC), who collected the puck behind the Saint Mary's net, after a rush by Bujold.
Bujold also had a chance to cut the lead in half, but Clark made a great blocker save on the hard shot from the top of the circle.
With just more than two minutes remaining, the X-Women pulled Daigle for an extra attacker. Their best chance to narrow the Saint Mary's lead came when captain Taylor Dale (Oromocto, NB) hit the cross bar after re-directing a pass from Kara Power.
At 19:44, Schell - with her fourth point of the game - wrapped up the scoring with an empty-net goal. Sarah Douglas (Whitby, ON) assisted.
Clark made 17 saves for the win, while Daigle turned aside 17 shots in the loss.
The Subway player of the game and first star was Blanche, while Schell and Kara Power gained the second and third selections, respectively.
The Huskies will be back in action Friday, Nov. 13, when they travel to Charlottetown to face the UPEI Panthers.
The X-Women will host the first-place St. Thomas Tommies Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Keating Centre.
Puck drop for both games is 7 p.m.
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