Sunday, 6 November 2016

The Rundown - Week 5

Yes, it will remain an all-Canada West women's hockey rundown today. There were some intriguing battles played out across western Canada as teams begin jockeying for positions and playoff spots prior to the Remembrance Day break. Would top-ranked UBC remain on top? Could Manitoba keep pace? Are the two Saskatchewan-based teams able to keep up? All of these questions and more will be answered in today's edition of The Rundown!

REGINA at ALBERTA: These two teams entered this weekend's games with each needing to go on a bit of a run if they hoped to stay near the top of the standings. Regina's Kylee Kupper put the Cougars up early as she took a long breakaway pass and went five-hole on Dayna Owen just 1:39 into the game. It appeared that Alberta had tied the game midway through the period, but the referee's whistle had sounded moments before the puck ended up behind Regina's Jane Kish, so the 1-0 score stood.

At 18:58, Alberta's Morgan Kelly was excused from the game after she threw a hit from behind, and Regina's rather lethal power-play went to work after it was confirmed there were no injuries from the hit. The shot from Emma Waldenberger was deflected in front by Jaycee Magwood at 19:15 that got by Owen, and it was 2-0 for the Cougars.

The second period saw the Cougars take a three-goal lead. With Deanna Morin serving a two-minute minor for a check to the head, the Cougars won a face-off back to Alexis Larson, and her low shot found room under Owen for the a 3-0 lead. Owen's night was over as Lindsey Post took over between the pipes for Alberta, but the spark would be stymied by Kish for the remaining 34 minutes of the game. Regina wouldn't add any additional goals in the third period, but what they had was more than enough as Regina took this game 3-0. Kish stopped 37 shots in the shutout win while Dayna Owen took the loss after stopping 6-of-9 shots. Lindsey Post was 8-for-8 in stops after relieving Owen.

REGINA at ALBERTA: Saturday's game was important for the Pandas as they needed to keep pace with the Cougars. Things didn't start well on that front as an early interference penalty sent the Cougars to the power-play. On the man-advantage, Kylie Gavelin's shot found room past Lindsey Post at 2:45, and the Cougars were off and running with a 1-0 lead. Alberta would answer with a power-play goal of their own later in the period as Abby Benning snapped a shot past Jane Kish to even the game at 1-1.

The script would flip in the second period as Alberta's Amy Boucher found the back of the net just 2:33 into the frame for the 2-1 lead. Late in the period, though, the Cougars would tie the game when Sam Geekie ripped a shot past Post for the 2-2 score.

The third period would see Autumn MacDougall finally break through with a goal midway through the period as she put Alberta up 3-2 at the 9:43 mark. 55 seconds later, Boucher would add her second of the game when she beat Kish for a 4-2 lead. Post would take care of the rest as the Alberta Pandas downed the Regina Cougars 4-2. Post recorded the win after stopping 21 shots while Kish took the loss in a 26-save effort.

CALGARY at MANITOBA: With Venla Hovi in Finland for the Four Nations Cup, a large part of the Manitoba offence was absent. Would that affect Manitoba? To say that this game was anything but exciting would be a lie. Manitoba sent waves of offence into the Dinos' zone, but goaltender Kelsey Roberts turned aside the Bisons time and time again. Through 60 minutes, however, the teams were still tied in a scoreless draw, so it was off to overtime to find a winner!

It took a couple of minutes, but the stalemate would finally be broken by Courtlyn Oswald who was tied up, but managed to wriggle her stick free to bat home a loose puck in front of Roberts that found some room through the five-hole at 2:18 for the 1-0 Manitoba victory! Rachel Dyck wasn't busy, but made 11 saves in the shutout win. Kelsey Roberts stopped 29 of 30 shots in the overtime loss.

CALGARY at MANITOBA: The Bisons took the ice on Saturday in jersey that saw their gold trim replaced with pink as they hosted their annual Bisons Fight Cancer game. And for the second-straight year, the Bisons capped off the big day with a 5-0 win! Manitoba's Taryn Kokesch kicked things off with a slap shot that got through traffic at 7:51. At 10:04, Sheridan Oswald ripped a slap shot over the blocker to the top corner for the 2-0 lead. Caitlyn Fyten added a power-play bomb from the point at 15:25, and the Herd were off to a 3-0 lead.

Jordyn Zacharias would add a power-play goal at the 18:01 mark of the second period, and Alanna Sharman would score a power-play goal of her own with 45 seconds to play for the 5-0 Manitoba win. Manitoba's Amanda Schubert made 15 saves for the shutout win while Calgary's Kelsey Roberts stopped 24 shots in the loss.

In a rather strange occurrence that should be noted, Calgary's Hayley Dowling dressed Friday night, but was nowhere to be seen on the bench on Saturday. Instead, defenceman Kira Makuk donned the pads for Saturday's game! I'm not sure what happened there, but Makuk didn't see any action as a netminder on the weekend. And just for fun, the Bisons ended up raising just short of $5500 for cancer research initiatives on Saturday! Well done, Bisons!

UBC at LETHBRIDGE: The top-ranked team in the nation visited Lethbridge on the weekend. The home side found itself with an early lead after Katelyn Breitkreuz beat Amelia Boughn high at 8:04. The Thunderbirds would get that one back, though, as Logan Boyd jumped on a turnover in the Lethbridge zone and sniped a goal past Alicia Anderson high on short-side at 16:23.

The second period was just as entertaining, but UBC grabbed a lead when Hannah Clayton-Carroll followed up on her own shot and buried the rebound at 12:04. It was the third period, however, where UBC really flexed their muscles. Jenna Carpenter-Boesch fired a rebound past a sprawling Anderson at 7:11. 37 seconds later, Emily O'Neill had an easy tap-in at the back post off a feed from Melissa Goodwin, and it was a 4-1 lead for the T-Birds. Toss in a Melissa Goodwin goal that got through the wickets of Anderson at 16:47, and the Thunderbirds skated to the 5-1 win. Boughn stopped 26 shots in earning the win while Anderson stopped 36 shots in the loss.

UBC at LETHBRIDGE: If you wanted goals, these two teams provided them in spades on Saturday. Mattie Apperson teed up a one-timer on the power-play at 6:37 to put Lethbridge out in front, and they would double the lead at 11:13 when Chelsea Kasprick broke in alone on Tori Micklash and went high on the netminder for the 2-0 advantage. UBC wouldn't let Lethbridge escape the period with that lead, though. Shorthanded 1:01 after the Kasprick goal, Kathleen Cahoon's individual effort resulted in her beating Anderson low despite being hounded by a defender to make it 2-1 for the Pronghorns after 20 minutes.

Hannah Clayton-Carroll would even the score on an early second-period power-play when she one-timed a blast past Anderson on the blocker side at 1:35 to make it 2-2. Lethbridge would jump ahead again when Tricia Van Vaerenbergh made a move past a defender while shorthanded to find some open ice in the slot, and she fired a shot past Micklash for the 3-2 lead. UBC would answer back once again when Kathleen Cahoon converted on a two-man advantage at 19:05 to knot this game up at 3-3.

A scoreless third period somehow happened, so this game needed extra time to determine a winner. Not surprisingly, Cahoon finished off the hat trick on the power-play when Cassandra Vilgrain's shot rang off the goal post and Cahoon banged home the rebound at the far post just 59 seconds into the overtime frame for the 4-3 UBC win! In what seems like a baffling stat, Tori Micklash earned the overtime win by making six saves. Six. As in 6. Compare that to Anderson who took the overtime loss despite making 48 saves! Lethbridge got destroyed in shots and possession in this game! Yikes!

MOUNT ROYAL at SASKATCHEWAN: The Huskies are trying to track down the T-Birds and Bisons, and they were looking to prey on the Mount Royal Cougars. After winning a draw on the power-play, the Huskies got the puck to Leah Bohlken on the point, and her shot found its way though traffic and goaltender Zoe DeBeauville to put Saskatchewan up 1-0, a lead that would remain true through the end of the period.

In the second period, Kennedy Harris found a loose puck off a scrum in front of the Mount Royal net, and she buried it past DeBeauville to put Saskatchewan up 2-0 at 2:10. 1:53 later, the Huskies led 3-0 when Brooke Patron chipped a rebound off a Kaitlin Willoughby shot past DeBeauville, and it appeared that the Huskies were in control as DeBeauville was yanked for Emma Pincott. Sarah Weninger had other ideas, though, as she beat Jasey Rae Book on a rebound on the power-play at 15:38 to cut the lead to 3-1.

Mount Royal would put the pressure on the Huskies late in the game, and Sarah Weninger would tap home a Gabrielle Seper shot at 16:16 that got tangled in a mess of legs to make it a 3-2 game. As the Cougars pressed, though, Book responded by stopping everything she saw in the last 3:44 to preserve the 3-2 victory for the Huskies. Book made 24 saves for the win while DeBeauville suffered the loss in stopping 10 shots in 24:07 of work. Pincott was a perfect 7-for-7 in her relief appearance.

MOUNT ROYAL at SASKATCHEWAN: Saturday's game started out as a defensive struggle before things broke open in the third period. Mount Royal's Megan Carver redirected a Nicollette Seper shot past Cassidy Hendricks to put the Cougars out in front just 35 seconds into the period. The Huskies would rally at 13:28 when Lauren Zary picked up a loose puck in front of the Cougars' net and beat Emma Pincott to tie the game at 1-1. A power-play goal for Huskies 3:40 later would prove to be the decisive moment when Kennedy Harris found Rachel Johnson down low, and she fed Courtney Cormack in the slot who beat Pincott for the 2-1 Saskatchewan lead. An empty-net goal by Kaitlin Willoughby with 49 seconds to play iced the game for the Huskies as they took the 3-1 victory. Hendricks stopped 17 of 18 shots for the win while Pincott stopped 32 shots in the loss.

CWUAA WOMEN'S HOCKEY
School Record Points GF GA Streak Next
British Columbia
7-1-2-0
25 37 18
W8
BYE
Manitoba
7-2-1-0
23 34 13
W2
BYE
Saskatchewan
5-3-2-0
19 22 19
W2
BYE
Regina
5-4-1-0
17 24 24
L1
BYE
Alberta
2-3-2-3
13 21 20
W1
BYE
Lethbridge
2-5-1-2
10 18 32
L2
BYE
Mount Royal
2-6-0-2
8 14 25
L2
BYE
Calgary
0-7-1-2
4 13 32
L5
BYE

As you can see above, there are no games this week as Canada West honours the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our freedom through Friday's Remembrance Day. The Rundown will take a look at leading scorers, surprises, and first-half MVPs next week from the Canada West Conference, and we'll take a peek at the other conferences across Canada. UBC should remain the top team in the nation after this week. I expect Manitoba to remain in the top-ten, and Saskatchewan should hang around as well if voters are paying attention.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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