A second place finish in the AUS last year has the women’s hockey team hungry for the top spot.
The Lady Tommies played their first exhibition game of the season on Sunday, and the team proved it’s still going strong on last year’s momentum.
The team was fairly dominant right from the start. The Lady Tommies showed their relatively strong defence and the forcefulness of their offence, outshooting Université de Moncton more than two to one in the first period.
A few penalties in the second period let the team demonstrate the effectiveness of their penalty kill. Although they were a player short, they were able to move the play to UdeM’s end and even had a few breakaways.
Goaltender Kristin Wolfe showed a promising technical game. She didn’t see much action early on, but UdeM fought back during the second and left the Tommies playing much of the period in their own end.
The Lady Tommies won the game 2-1.
While this is only their first exhibition game, the team meshed well together, reading the plays and predicting what other players would do.
Their skill set was fairly solid, although at certain times needed improvement. Pass timing was off and a few players were rusty in their play.
Forward Kelty Apperson thinks the team made some strong moves on Sunday, but believes they still need work.
“We were successful with our forechecking and backchecking, but we’re still learning to play with new line mates,” she said.
Apperson also said the team is excited about the season after showing the potential they have, but aren’t taking it for granted.
“There’s still a lot of work to do.”
