Sticky ice contributed to the women’s hockey team shut out victory against the University of Prince Edward Island on Saturday. The Tommies won 3-0 at the Grant Harvey Centre.
The game was slow to start as players had to wait for the ice to freeze. Wet ice was a problem throughout the game, making strange bounces for the puck and tripping players on both teams.
The game winning goal was scored in the second period by team captain Kayla Blackmore. Now in her fifth year at STU, Blackmore is a commanding presence on the ice.
“The puddle helped me out. The first few minutes of the second period was just terrible ice. It was sticky, there were puddles everywhere, both teams were losing their pucks. … It was really lucky, the puck stuck there and I walked in and I was hoping that the puck wouldn’t stick as I released my shot because that would have looked pretty funny too,” said Blackmore.
All the goals were scored during the second period. Blackmore’s unassisted goal came first at 0:43, followed at 6:58 with a goal from Katie Brewster, assisted by defenseman Caley Steinert. The third goal was scored at 10:08 by first year forward Emily Francis on a breakaway. The assist went to second year defenseman Paige MacDonald.
Goaltender Julia Sharun earned most valuable player for the game. She made several good saves throughout the game and helped bring the team their third shutout this season.
“It was definitely a big change. The D-zone this year is a lot easier to see pucks through and the forwards are blocking shots and the D are blocking shots and clearing lanes for me, so it’s definitely a big adjustment in a good way this year” said Sharun.
Head coach Peter Murphy was pleased with Sharun’s performance.
“We didn’t ask her to make ridiculous saves today. She made a couple of really nice ones” said Murphy.
Both teams took penalties. UPEI played a more physical game earning most of their time in the box from checking. STU forward Jordan Miller got hit a few times during the game, including one nasty check from Kiana Strand 15:50 into the second period.
“She’s one of those players that doesn’t always get the glory for what she does but she sacrifices her body and she puts herself in those positions and the rest of the team recognizes that and appreciates that and when you have players like that that are willing to take those hits to make the powerplays successful and give the powerplay a chance to score a goal it’s huge for our team” said Blackmore.
STU’s Erin MacIsaac took a penalty in the first period for kneeing, and Danielle Miller earned one for checking back seven minutes in to the third.
The Tommies managed to get 22 shots on goal compared to the Panthers’ 21.
