The St. Thomas Tommies scored three times in the second period, including two goals in a nine second span, in a 4-3 shootout win over the host UNB REDS on Friday night. The game marked the return to Atlantic University Sport play for both teams after an extended layoff due to pandemic restrictions following the regular December break.
Ekaterina Pelowich (Stouffville, ON) scored the Tommies’ shootout winner.
“I was going in on a breakaway in overtime and I wanted to get the puck higher, but couldn’t,” said Pelowich, named Subway Player of the Game. “So that’s what I did in the shootout. It was in my mind, skating down slow, and I got higher right there.”
The game started slowly, with both teams fighting for opportunities. Both goaltenders, UNB’s Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) and the Tommies’ Caroline Pietroski (Etobicoke, ON), were forced to make a handful of saves in the early going.
The hosts opened the scoring at 15:16 of the 1st period, Payton Hargreaves (Whitby, ON) scoring with the REDS short-handed. Ashley Stratton (Mount Pearl, NL) drew the only assist on the goal, the 60th point of her REDS career, making her the program’s all-time leading scorer.
Stratton moved past Amanda Wuerth, with whom she’d been tied since the REDS’ last game, on November 30th. Wuerth tallied 59 points during her career, which ran from the 2003-04 season through 2006-07.
“It’s pretty special,” Stratton said of the milestone “There’s so many good players that have been in this program and there are so many good players here now, obviously they’ve helped me get to this point where I’m at, and I can only thank them.”
The Tommies took control in the second period. Jacey Dane (Aurora, ON) tied the game early, before UNB’s Reagan Minor (Dunnville, ON) restored the REDS one-goal lead. Emma Pye (Oshawa, ON) scored at the 16:19 mark to tie the score 2-2.
Nine seconds later, at 16:28, Emma Wilson (Midhurst, ON) took the puck following the faceoff and beat Woodland to give the Tommies their first lead of the night.
Stratton drew the REDS even at 17:17 of the third period, forcing overtime.
Both teams had scoring chances during the five-minute overtime, but they remained deadlocked.
Pelowich’s goal came in the fifth round of the shootout.
“It was awesome to be back playing,” she said. “We’ve been off for so long, so getting back into it there, there’s motivation and we’ve just got to keep going.”
With the win, St. Thomas is now 9-and-8, while UNB is 12-3-0-2.
Friday night also saw women's hockey action in Sackville, when the UdeM Aigles Bleues defeated the Mount Allison Mounties 5-2 at the Tantramar Civic Centre.
Both teams got off to a quick start, showing no rust from the long break in the season. The teams skated to a scoreless first period that saw chances at both ends. The Aigles Bleues hit the scoreboard first as Emilie Comeau (Hearst, ON) scored just over two minutes into the first period on a play assisted by Maritza Labrie (Saint-Quentin, QC).
The Mounties drew even just over three minutes later when assistant captain Rachael Carson (Burlington, ON) scored on the power play. Mollie Grabe (Carleton Place, ON) and Island Bernard-Docker (Canmore, AB) picked up assists on the play.
The scoring would continue in the second period as Erica Plourde (Pigeon Hill, NB) scored nine minutes in to restore a 2-1 lead for visitors. Moncton extended their lead to 3-1 when Isadora Quirion (Saint-Gédéon de Beauce, QC) scored less than a minute later off a faceoff win.
The Mounties responded quickly as Katie Bouwman (Oakville, ON) scored just 18 seconds later on a rocket up under the cross bar over the shoulder of Moncton goalie Audrey Berthiaume (St. Bruno, QC). This was as close as the Mounties would get as third period goals by Lianne Desforges (Clarence-Rockland, ON) and Shani Rossignol (Notre Dame de Lourdes, NB) put the finishing touches on a 5-2 Moncton win.
Berthiaume made 17 saves on 19 shots for Moncton. Kaitlyn Evelyn made 38 saves on 43 shots in goal for the Mounties.
Recaps courtesy of Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics and Mount Allison Athletics