OSHAWA, Ont. – Finally. The Ontario Tech University women's hockey team finally saw their hard work pay off, beating the defending national champion Guelph Gryphons 5-4 in overtime on Saturday afternoon.
"It was a long time coming," said head coach
Justin Caruana. "We've deserved this for a while, it feels really good and hoping this is the start of a little run."
The early season has seen the Ridgebacks struggle with consistent offence, but after an early 5-on-3 penalty kill, the home side found confidence at both ends of the ice. Ontario Tech was led offensively by freshman
Natalie Wozney (Whitby, Ont.) who scored the overtime winner and finished with a five-point game (2G, 3A). She becomes the third player in program history to accomplish this feat, joining
Kassidy Nauboris and
Jill Morillo.
"It's such a great feeling," Wozney said about the offensive outburst. "It's such a great feeling to have a nice team behind my back that worked hard throughout the whole game."
The Ridgebacks displayed a tremendous bend don't break mentality after jumping out to the lead halfway through the first period. Guelph showed why they are defending national champs and current No. 6, as they pressured relentlessly, tying the game early in the third. The extra frame was the first this season for the Ridgebacks who again showed good patience against a talented team, and capitalized when they had the chance.
"It's always nice to beat the national champs," said Caruana. "Those are games you really get up for and are excited to play."
Ontario Tech will look to build off this success as they head up north next weekend for a back-to-back, starting Friday night against the No. 10 Nipissing Lakers.
•
Marissa Murphy (Odessa, Ont.) received a Wozney pass in the high slot and sniped top corner over the goalie's glove at 9:19 of the first.
•
Nicole Zabel (Palmerston, Ont.) built the Ridgebacks lead to 2-0 at the 13:24 mark, when she followed the play and banged home the loose puck from a net front scramble.
• Sydney Davison had two of her own goals for the Gryphons, both bringing the visitors within one. Her first came at 15:22 of the opening period and she later made it a 4-3 game at 9:25 of the second.
•
Katie Heath (Elora, Ont.) corralled a rebound and fired home her third of the season with just 13 seconds left in the first period.
• Sophie Rodenburg needed just 3:22 into the second to bring the visitors to a 3-2 deficit, while Karli Shell tied the game at 4:30 in the final frame.
• Wozney gave the Ridgebacks the two-goal lead mid-way through the second whacking home a loose puck at the top of the crease at 8:39. She would end the game after receiving a breakaway pass in overtime and make no mistake, firing home the winner under the netminder's blocker.
•
Celine Tessier (Chapleau, Que.) had 29 saves in the victory
• Kathryn Raymond allowed five goals on 23 shots.
Overall Record: 2-12-0
Conference Record: 1-9-0
Next Game: Friday, Nov. 22 @ Nipissing Lakers (5 p.m. – North Bay, Ont.)
