The Tommies women’s hockey team split its games on the weekend, but stayed on top of the Atlantic University Sport conference standings.
St. Thomas University (5-0-1) is still unbeaten in regulation after edging the Dalhousie University Tigers 3-2 Saturday, but the Tommies fell 2-1 to the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues in a shootout Friday on the road.
Heading into the weekend, STU was in fourth in the U Sports weekly Top 10 national rankings, up one spot from fifth place the previous week.
Tommies silence Tigers to avoid losing streak
Emily Oleksuk scored twice and was named player of the game, while Stephanie Ford, Kelty Apperson and Alex Woods each had an assist for the Tommies in Saturday’s contest in Halifax.
STU rearguard Samantha Squires drew the first blood at 15:04 in the opening frame. Oleksuk then scored at 8:42 in period two to put the Tommies up 2-0.
Annika Rose cut the Tigers’ deficit in half at 5:34 in the third, but Oleksuk added her second of the game seven minutes later to restore STU’s cushion.
Victoria MacIntosh pulled Dalhousie within a goal again with a power play marker at 16:50 while Tommies rearguard Eliza Snider served a hooking penalty, but that’s as close as the Tigers would come.
Dalhousie yanked Jessica Severeyns in favour of an extra attacker for the last 1:35 of the game, but the move was to no avail.
STU goaltender Taylor Cook made 31 saves for the win, while Severeyns blocked 29 shots in the losing effort.
The Tigers scored on one of six power plays, while the Tommies went 0 for 3 on the man advantage.
Aigles Bleues knock Tommies out of win column
UdeM forward Janelle Graham was the hero as the Aigles Bleues limited the Tommies’ winning streak to four games Friday night in Moncton.
Graham’s shot beat STU netminder Abby Clarke top shelf on her glove side on the third UdeM attempt in the shootout to hand the Tommies their first loss of the 2016-17 season.
The only successful STU shooter was Apperson, who deked Aigles Bleues goalie Gabrielle Forget and beat her low glove side.
Tommies forward Lauren Henman shot and missed before Dominique Bérubé beat Clarke with a shot that went through her five-hole.
The Aigles Bleues’ first chance in the shootout came from Katryne Villeneuve, who also wasn’t fazed by Clarke.
Henman might have came up short in her efforts to keep STU alive in the shootout, but she wasn’t held off the scoreboard during regulation.
The second-year STU forward extended her point streak to four regular season contests with the first goal of Friday’s game against the Aigles Bleues.
Henman’s marker 15 minutes into the opening frame was her sixth goal and seventh point in five games.
Aigles Bleues forward Karine Roy tied the contest with 21 seconds left in the middle stanza.
The third period and both extra frames were scoreless.
Forget was named player of the game after making 35 saves for the victory, while Clarke took the loss, but denied 32 shots in the process.
STU and Dalhousie rematch Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. at home before the Tommies play the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. at Grant-Harvey Centre.
