Fredericton, NB - The St. Francis Xavier X-Women defeated the St. Thomas Tommies by a convincing score of 7-0 at the Grant-Harvey Centre Saturday night.
The Tommies held their own in the first half of the opening period until Kamdyn Switzer (Stittsville, ON) scored short-handed. Switzer picked the puck up at center ice off a bad Tommies bounce to go in alone and score on a wide-open breakaway.
Despite three Tommies' powerplay featuring good scoring chances out front the X-Women held them scoreless in the first period. The X-Women would make it 2-0 when Lauren Dabrowski (Tiny, ON) scored in front of the Tommies net with 44 seconds left in the period.
The X-Women opened the game up, scoring four goals in the second period. St. FX began the period on the powerplay and cashed in when Maggy Burbidge (Falmouth, NS) took a perfect cross-ice one-timer pass from Lauren Dabrowski (Tiny, ON). Burbidge, the Subway Player of the Game would add another goal and assist to her five-point night before the end of the period.
Katie Sweeney (Tecumseh, ON) stayed focused despite facing 21 of her 51 total shots in the second period and many quality scoring chances from St. FX.
The X-Women would score once more on their 16 shots in the third period while the Tommies tried to create more scoring opportunities with new line combinations.
Head coach Peter Murphy took a positive away from the negative outcome with newfound line combinations they tested throughout the game, especially in the third period. Murphy said they will fine tune the new combinations in practice in preparation for next weeks games on Wednesday night and Friday night.
As the winter break quickly approaches the Tommies look to turn things around on Wednesday night in Moncton against the Université de Moncton, puck drop is 7:00pm. As for the X-Women, they hope to keep things going at 7:00pm on Wednesday night as they take on the Dalhousie Tigers in Halifax.
Recap by: Oliver Pearson
Photos by: SRM Photography / STU Athletics
