By: Sean Crocker, BA'18
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The St. Thomas University Tommies defeated the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 8-3 Saturday in AUS women's hockey action at the Grant-Harvey Centre.
The Panthers opened the scoring when Maria Clinton netted a loose puck in front to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Despite the early goal, Tommies assistant coach Sara O'Toole said netminder Taylor Cook was solid throughout the game.
"She was good today and she was solid," O'Toole said. "We rely on our goalies quite a bit and Cook did her job today."
The Tommies responded when Jessie McCann shot a bullet from the point to tie the game at one a piece. Stephanie Ford followed suit, scoring on the rebound to give the Tommies a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The score did not stay that way for long as Myfanwy Thomson capitalized on the power play early in the second period to make it 3-1 for the Tommies.
"It's always a good thing when you're four out of five on the power play," O'Toole said. "We had to stay level headed, and there are a lot of things that need to be tightened up, but we did a good job on the power play.
Emma Weatherbie scored for the Panthers and narrowed the lead to 3-2, but it was evaporated when Becky Conner restored the Tommies' two goal lead on a rebound moments later.
Once again the Panther had an answer as Sydnee Baker brought the game back to within one on the powerplay.
"That makes for great hockey," O'Toole said of the quick responses from her team.
The Tommies didn't take their foot off the gas in the third and increased their 4-3 lead off two quick goals—one came on the power play from Anderson and the second came on the rebound from Alisha Gilbert to put the Tommies up 6-3.
"They knew what they needed to do and that was just going back to what we've been emphasizing these past couple of weeks," O'Toole said. "They stuck to that and it paid off."
The Tommies kept pressing which resulted in another goal off a deflection from Teah Anderson in front of the Panther's net. Thomson netted her second of the game midway through the frame to make it 8-3.
"It's great when you see different players having big days," O'Toole said of Thomson. "It shows that you have depth and leadership with the older players stepping up like they did today."
The win is the Tommies' seventh straight and their third since the New Year.
"It was a much closer game than the score showed," O'Toole said. "That just shows you that you can't let up against any team in this league."
The Tommies are back in action next Saturday when they travel to Antigonish to take on the St. Francis Xavier X-Women, while the Panthers visit the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus Sunday afternoon in Moncton.