The Tommies women’s hockey team picked up where it left off before the holidays in Atlantic University Sport action on home ice over the weekend.
St. Thomas University (14-1-1) doubled the St. Francis Xavier University X-Women 6-3 Saturday at Grant-Harvey Centre in Fredericton before defending home ice Sunday with a 5-1 win over the struggling Dalhousie University Tigers (3-12-1).
The victory Sunday extended the Tommies’ win streak to six games, while the X-Women (8-6) had their run snapped at five triumphs in a row.
STU hasn’t lost since Nov. 13, when the Tommies were edged 1-0 by the Saint Mary’s University Huskies. The last StFX defeat involved dropping a 5-3 decision to the Tommies a day earlier.
The Tigers’ loss on Sunday was their seventh in their last games.
Tigers settled down by Tommies
STU captain Kelty Apperson led the Tommies’ attack with a hat trick, while forward Lauren Henman notched a goal and two assists.
Forwards Teah Anderson and Emily Oleksuk also provided a pair of helpers apiece.
Penalty trouble ultimately caught up to the Tigers, who went down 1-0 when Henman opened the scoring at 16:21 in the first period on a power play while Dalhousie forward Bianca Canade served a hooking minor.
After a scoreless middle frame, Apperson scored at 4:29 in the third stanza.
The first marker of Apperson’s three also marked the Tommies’ second goal of the game netted on a man advantage.
Alex Woods picked up her third goal of the season 11 minutes into the period before Apperson fired home an empty netter more than five minutes later.
Forward Becca Chilvers’ shot beat STU goalie Abby Clarke with a little over three minutes to go before Apperson completed the hatty with another empty net goal at 18:43 to send the Tigers packing.
Clarke’s 31-save performance helped put the Tommies over the top, while Mati Barrett blocked 34 of the Tommies’ shots in the loss.
The Tommies scored on two of three man advantages a day after head coach Peter Murphy said the team’s 0-for-2 performance the day before against StFX left more to be desired.
But the power play tides turned Sunday afternoon, as the Tigers failed to capitalize on two opportunities.
STU doubles StFX at home
Saturday’s win left Murphy feeling the happiest he’s been all season.
“Take pictures,” Murphy said with a chuckle. “We got progressively better as the game went on.”
The hard-fought contest was scoreless until there was 57 seconds left in the opening frame. That’s when a shot from StFX star forward Daley Oddy beat STU goalie Taylor Cook low blocker side to get the X-Women on the board on a power play while Tommies forward Stephanie Ford was off for tripping.
Oddy bent the twine at the same time the Tommies killed off a tripping penalty assessed to rearguard Eliza Snider two minutes earlier.
The ink on the scoresheet from Oddy’s goal barely dried before Henman answered 14 seconds later to tie it at a goal apiece heading into the first intermission.
The Tommies were outshot 10-6 in period one, but STU beat StFX 12-9 and 16-8 on the shot clock in the second and third periods, respectively.
The second stanza initially was identical to the first, as Emily Power’s shot beat Cook at 5:08 to put StFX back in the driver’s seat, albeit briefly.
Power’s marker followed a beautiful play in which STU forward Myf Thomson took a nice stretch pass from the neutral zone and got a breakaway but didn’t faze StFX netminder Ariana Orasanin.
Thomson and her teammates managed to make up for it in the first period by blocking several of the X-Women’s shots on the penalty kill.
“[Thomson] had a strong game,” said Murphy.
Not to be outdone, the Tommies responded – this time, 50 seconds later – when forward Alisha Gilbert got the puck past StFX netminder Ariana Orasanin low blocker side to knot it up again.
“All you want in those situations is a big momentum change to go back your way,” said Murphy.
The match didn’t turn into a barn burner, though. Much like the first one, the second tie lasted five minutes before Lauren Legault poked the puck through traffic in Orasanin’s crease and into the net to put the Tommies in control.
A shot from the point taken by Samantha Squires was deflected past Orasanin 18 seconds into the third period before Gilbert netted her second at 2:25.
Sarah Bujold fired a rebound past Cook at 9:53 to bring the X-Women back within two before Henman beat Orasanin low for her second of the game at 16:14 to send the 327 Tommies fans home happy.
Cook made 24 saves between the posts for STU in the winning effort, while Orasanin took the loss after turning aside 27 of the Tommies’ 33 shots.
The X-Women were 1-for-3 on the man advantage.
STU is back in action Saturday, Jan. 14, when the Tommies host the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (9-5). Puck drop goes at 3 p.m. at Grant-Harvey Centre.
