The St. Thomas University women’s hockey team couldn’t have started off the playoffs much better than the way they did at home on Tuesday night.
Before the game, Tommies head coach Peter Murphy talked to his team about how important it is to come out strong.
“A three game series is short. You don’t want to give anybody any games to get a head start on you,” said Murphy.
His team listened. Lauren Henman scored a quick goal just over a minute in to start things off. Marina Sergina kept
things going for STU and scored with only a couple minutes left in the first period.
That gave the Tommies a 2-0 lead going into the second period. STU had seven shots on net in the first, while Dalhousie had four.
From there the Tommies took off. Andrea Fischer scored just under four minutes in, and then Lauren Henman struck again with 7:68 left in the period for STU. The Tigers found the back of the net in the second period, but that was overshadowed by goals from Becky Conner and Lauren Henman near the end of the period.
“It is hard when you’re up by a number of goals to keep your foot on the gas, but that’s what you have to do,” said Murphy.
With a 6-1 lead going into the final period, only a disaster could have robbed them of their win.
No disaster came, as STU won the game with a final score of 7-3 over Dalhousie. Lauren Henman was on fire, scoring four goals on them. She felt the way they started was how they ended up winning.
“I think the strong start is what allowed us to dominate most of the game,” said Henman.
That win gives the Tommies a 1-0 lead over Dalhousie in the best of three series. Game two will be played in Halifax on Thursday. If necessary, the third game will be Saturday in Fredericton. Murphy said the big win was not a surprise.
“Our wins and loss totals don’t necessarily reflect it, but the last four games of the season we played really really well,” said Murphy.
