Consolation 1 CIS women’s hockey championship: St. Thomas upsets McGill to qualify for consolation final

(NOTE: La version française sera disponible sur le site web de SIC dans les meilleurs délais)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Photo credit David Moll

CALGARY (CIS) – A third period goal for the 8^th seed St. Thomas Tommies gave them a 2-1 victory over the McGill Martlets in the first consolation semi-final on Friday, March 18.

The win for the Tommies qualifies them to play for 5^th place in the consolation final at 9 a.m. MT on Sunday, March 20. McGill’s no. 5 ranked team takes an early exit from the tournament after losing both of their games this weekend.

The Martlets were put in a difficult position when their captain MelodieDaoust went down with a shoulder injury late in their 4-2 loss to UBC. Not only were they playing in the consolation round for the first time in three years, they were forced to do so without their captain and leading scorer. After suffering a 3-0 loss to the no. 1 ranked Guelph Gryphons, the Tommies redeemed themselves with an upset over McGill.

“I was very pleased with the way we played, any time you can beat a team like McGill that’s huge,” said St. Thomas’ head coach, Peter Murphy. “Yesterday’s game against Guelph wasn’t really our A game, today was more about how we usually play. Today was a lot quicker, we were able to skate at our pace a little bit more.”

The Tommies were led by two of their veterans, with captain KeltyApperson recording a goal and an assist, and fifth year defensemen Caley Steinert picking up a pair of assists. McGill’s Gabrielle Davidson had the only goal for her team, her second of the tournament.

St. Thomas netminder, Taylor Cook had an excellent game, turning away 36 of 37 shots.

“You can’t get here without goaltending,” explained Murphy. “Cook was really good today, she made some big stops when we needed it and I felt she was in control of the game from her end.”

The first goal of the game came late in the first period when McGill’s Davidson snapped a quick shot from down low that beat Cook blocker side. However, the Martlets took a penalty the shift after their goal and St. Thomas was able to capitalize on the opportunity. A rebound goal on the power play for Apperson made it a 1-1 game after 20 minutes.

After a scoreless second period, the Tommies got the go-ahead goal at 8:16 of the third period. Steinert’s centering pass found Lauren Henman, who buried a shot along the ice through the five-hole of McGill goaltender, Taylor Hough. St. Thomas was able to hold off the final push from the Martlets offence to claim the victory.

“Again, I thought there were a lot of good things in that game, we had so many scoring chances we just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” said McGill head coach, Peter Smith. “For our graduating players, they’ve had a great run. They all graduate with a National Championship back in 2014. For our returning players, they see what it takes to get all the way to the top. Quite frankly, I don’t think there’s anything but positives coming out of it.”

KeltyApperson’s goal and assist got her the Player of the Game award for the Tommies. Fifth year forward, Olivia Sutter was the Player of the Game for the Martlets.

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST PERIOD

1. MCG Gabrielle Davidson (2) (Alexandria Serpico, Marie-Philip Lavoie), 15:40

2. STU KeltyApperson (1) (Eliza Snider, Caley Steinert), 17:44 PP

PENALTIES:

Sutter (MCG) slashing, 3:10;

Jackson (STU) bodychecking, 8:00;

Francis (STU) slashing, 11:13;

Lavoie (MCG) tripping, 17:36.

SECOND PERIOD

No scoring.

PENALTIES:

Starnino (MCG) hooking, 14:17;

Oleksuk (STU) hooking, 14:38;

Sergina (STU) hooking, 18:35.

THIRD PERIOD

3. STU Lauren Henman (1) (Caley Steinert, KeltyApperson), 8:16

PENALTIES:

No penalties.

GOALS (by period)

MCG 1-0-0: 1

STU 1-0-1: 2

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)

MCG 12-14-11: 37

STU 8-9-6: 23

POWER PLAY:

MCG 0-4

STU 1-3

GOALTENDERS

MCG – Taylor Hough (L, 0-2, 23 shots, 21 saves, 2 GA, 58:31)

STU – Taylor Cook (W, 1-1, 37 shots, 36 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

MCG: Olivia Sutter

STU: KeltyApperson

ATTENDANCE: 329

REFEREE: Michelle Stapleton

LINESMEN: Shannon Klein, Caitlyn Schwab

START: 11:02

END: 12:51

LENGTH: 1:49

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times MOUNTAIN TIME)

Thursday, March 17
11:00 Quarter-final 1:  Guelph 3, St. Thomas 0
15:00 Quarter-final 2: UBC 4, McGill 2 
 
Friday, March 18
11:00 Consolation 1: St. Thomas 2, McGill 1  
15:00 Quarter-final 3: No. 6 Western vs. No. 3 Saint Mary's (www.CIS-SIC.tv)  
19:00 Quarter-final 4: No. 7 Calgary vs. No. 2 Montreal (www.CIS-SIC.tv)  
 
Saturday, March 19
10:00 Consolation 2: Loser QF 3 vs. Loser QF 4 (www.CIS-SIC.tv)  
14:00 Semifinal 1: Guelph vs. UBC (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *  
17:30 Semifinal 2: Winner QF 3 vs. Winner QF 4 (Sportsnet ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *  
 
Sunday, March 20
8:45 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
9:00 5th-place game (www.CIS-SIC.tv)  (at Joan Snyder Arena)   
12:30 Final (Sportsnet 360 & TVA Sports 2 / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *  
 
* Webcast of the semifinals & final are on pay-per-view basis.