Tommies top Huskies 4-3 in OT in season opener

(Halifax, NS) The St. Thomas Tommies edged the St. Mary's Huskies 4-3 in overtime in AUS women's hockey action Saturday night at the Grant-Harvey Centre in front of 252 spectators.

Alex Woods had two goals in the win for the Tommies, while Breanna Lanceleve netted two for the Huskies in the loss.

"I'm not going to take anything away from the fact we won the game," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said, "but the part that hurts is that it never should have went to overtime. You never want to give a point to someone that's going to be in the hunt with you."

The Tommies hit the score sheet 1:09 into the first with Stephanie Ford capitalizing on the first shot of the game. Woods followed suit in the next sequence, beating Huskies netminder Rebecca Clarke to put the Tommies up 2-0.

The Huskies offense came to life in the second. Breanna Lanceleve found the back of the net 9:56 into the frame, and Caitlyn Manning evened things up four minutes later, beating Tommies goaltender Taylor Cook to tie the game 2-2.

"We weren't adjusting to what they were doing and we needed to do that better," Murphy said of his team's performance in the second period.  "I'm not going to take anything away from Saint Mary's—they changed a bit and we got caught playing old hockey that we know better than to do."

It was back and forth in the third, but it was the Tommies who capitalized with Emily Oleksuk tucking the puck past Clarke at 16:17 for a 3-2 lead.

The Huskies pulled Clarke in the last minute in favour of the extra attacker and were rewarded with a goal from Lanceleve with 0.9 on the clock to tie the game and force overtime.

The Huskies came out strong in the extra frame, but Cook stood tall between the pipes. With just under three minutes to go, Woods found the back of the net to give the Tommies the 4-3 win.

Clarke made 28 saves for the Huskies, while Cook turned away 19 shots for the Tommies.

The Green and Gold are back in action tomorrow when they face the St. Francis Xaiver X-Women at 2:00 pm at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

The Huskies will take on les Aigles Bleues in Moncton at 4:00 pm. 

Source STU Communications