evening (Cara Smith/AQ)
The St. Thomas University Tommies women’s hockey team finished off the season with a bang.
The Tommies defeated the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleues 4-1 at the Grant Harvey Centre on Saturday night.
It was an emotional game for fifth year players Courtney Fox, Kayla Blackmore and Julia Sharun who were playing their final game in front of a home crowd.
“Reality kinda sets in when you step off the ice for the last time and your fans are cheering … you’re just not going to get that feeling again,” Blackmore said.
Blackmore finished the game with two goals and an assist and was all over the ice generating offensive opportunities all game long.
“It was definitely an emotional night but it felt good to get one last win in this beautiful building … now we’ll just have to take it into playoffs,” Sharun said.
Sharun put in a stellar performance for the Tommies in net, stopping 20 of 21 shots she faced for the win.
Fox described what her last shift was like.
“It was the last minute and one of the “d” stepped back and said “Fox you go” and I kinda cried, so I played my last shift crying,” she said.
Fox left her mark on the game as well playing sound defensively and even contributing with one assist.
The Tommies opened up the scoring at 5:59 of the first period.
Jordan Miller worked the puck in behind the net, passing it to Kenya Marcelline who threw it in the slot to Blackmore
who batted the puck past Aigles Bleues goaltender Emilie Bouchard for a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Blackmore added her second goal of the game at 4:57 chipping the puck past Bouchard on a pass from Marcelline. Miller also assisted on the play.
“I had a little bit more energy than usual,” Blackmore said.
“I wanted everyone to know how much this team means to me and how much playing here means to me so everything I could do to get that second effort and get that win I was going to do.”
At 13:24, Stephanie Gates gave STU a 3-0 lead after picking up a rebound on a shot from Cassidy McTaggart and burying it past Bouchard. Marcelline assisted on the play as well.
Blackmore and Marcelline were at it again during the third period.
At 10:05, Fox passed the puck to Blackmore who fired a cross-crease pass to Marcelline who tipped it past Bouchard for a 4-0 Tommies lead.
UdeM spoiled the shutout bid for Sharun at 18:40 of the third period.
With Moncton on the powerplay, the Tommies attempted to clear the puck along the boards, which would have led to a 2-on-0.
The puck was blocked at the blue line by Genevieve David, who passed it to Felicia Anctil and fired a shot over the glove of Sharun.
Bouchard was saddled with the loss for Moncton making 23 saves.
Fox, Sharun and Blackmore were voted as the games first stars of the game.
The Tommies will now travel to Sackville this weekend for the Atlantic University Sport Championship and will face Moncton on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Tommies head coach Peter Murphy was pleased with the win, but knows not to take the Aigles Bleues lightly in playoffs and made sure his players knew that after the game.
“In the grand scheme of things don’t think this game has anything to do with what’s going to happen on Thursday,” he said.
