With five minutes left in the third period, the Tommies women’s hockey team led by just one goal against the Dalhousie University Tigers on Feb. 8 at the Grant Harvey Centre.
Third-year forward Olivia Reid had the puck behind the offensive goal and passed it in front of the net. All of a sudden, the puck banked off a Dalhousie player and into the net for her sixth goal of the year.
The Tommies now led 3-1. A sense of relief swept over the players.
“It’s nice to get a bounce,” Tommies’ head coach Peter Murphy said.
“By my calculations it was the first bounce we’ve had all year. We haven’t had a single goal where it went off an opponent and in [the net] all year.”
Despite outshooting the Tigers 52-21, the Tommies were only able to squeak by. They had dominated the first half of the first period, finding multiple chances while banging at the puck in front of the net, only for the Tigers to flip the puck down the ice and find a gap between the defense, burying it past the five-hole of rookie goaltender Caroline Pietroski. Seven minutes in, it was 1-0 for the Tigers.
Later in the period, the Tommies would find more chances but struggled to find the back of the net. Their biggest chance came with six minutes left in the period with a wide open net. The Tigers goaltender was able to get her stick in front of the puck just in time for a desperate save, leaving the Tommies blank on the scoreboard.
Early into the second period, STU was finally able to finally get one by the Tigers goaltender after fifth-year forward Danielle Ring passed the puck across the crease to fourth-year forward Lauren Legault who slapped her sixth goal of the year, this time on the powerplay. Ring and Brooke Stanford would get the assist.
The next goal would come from the rookie forward Jacy Dane who found a rebound in front of the net to bury home her third goal of the year, her first game winning goal of the year as well.
Murphy said his rookies have come along very well over the course of the season.
“I’ve had lots of people mentioning how much they like the rookies and how good they’re going to be,” he said.
“We’re coming along really well.”
Pietroski made 20 saves as STU won their 13th game of the season.
