The Rundown - Week 6
I'm going to kill any foreshadowing by saying that you should take a deep breath because these two teams went bonkers. Sydney Mercier scored her second goal of the season at 6:58 as she went over Williamson's shoulder to put Calgary up 1-0, and that lead would become a 2-0 margin when Jolie Nafziger, left alone in the slot, scored her third of the season on the power-play at 8:36. Regina would cut that lead in half when Kaitlyn Gilroy picked up the puck at center ice, stepped across the blue line, and wired a wrister from the top of the slot that went high on Durante at 9:52. Calgary, though, would restore the two-goal lead on the power-play late in the frame when Brooklyn Fry's low shot to the glove side eluded everyone to find twine at 17:11 for the 3-1 Calgary lead. The Dinos would take that lead into the break despite Regina holding a 12-10 lead in shots.
Whatever was said in the break seemed to fire up Paige Hubbard as she tried to circle out of the corner in the Dinos' zone before she lost the puck, but Julianne Girardin centered to her in the middle of the slot, and Hubbard buried it past Durante just 35 seconds into the frame to make it a 3-2 game. Calgary would bounce back at the six-minute mark when Solana Cooper found room past Williamson at 6:12 to make it a 4-2 game, but Regina would answer back immediately when Hannah Pennell ripped a slapshot from the point home on the power-play at 6:36 to pull the Cougars within one at 4-3. Two minutes later, Nafziger elected to keep on the two-on-one on the left side, and that was a smart decision as she beat Williamson at 8:26 to make it 5-3 with that goal spelling an end to Williamson's night as she was replaced by Arden Kliewer in the Regina net. Late in the period, Makena Kushniruk found all sorts of room on the power-play to skate in on Durante and wire one past the blocker at 18:36 to make it a 5-4 game. That one-goal lead for Calgary would hold into the second intermission as Regina held a 24-21 edge in shots.
Once again, the Cougars made their impact felt in the opening minute of the period as Jadyn Kushniruk picked the pocket of a Calgary defender while shorthanded, and she skated in and went high off the glove off Durante into the back of the net for the shorthanded marker and the 5-5 tie just 60 seconds into the frame! Jadyn wasn't done there, though, as she scored a second shorthanded goal at 14:03 as she goes high on the blocker side from the top of the circle to beat Durante for Regina's first lead of the night at 6-5! With Durante on the bench late in the game, this goalfest just kept going as Kyla Mitenko gathered the puck at the Regina blue line, broke in towards the net, and went shelf on the blocker side past Kliewer with 40 seconds to play to tie the game at 6-6! After 12 goals were scored, we'd need one more to find a winner as this game headed to overtime with Regina up 34-31 in shots!
We'd get a winner in the overtime period after Calgary was whistled for a penalty. Shaylee Scraba's initial shot clanged iron, but the puck was loose in the Calgary crease where Kaitlyn Gilroy swept it home at 4:49 for the overtime winner as the Regina Cougars outscore the Calgary Dinos 7-6 in this game! Officially, Arden Kliewer picked up her second win after stopping 13 of 14 shots over 36:23 of time in relief while Gabriella Durante suffers the overtime loss in a 31-save effort. For the record, Natalie Williamson played 28:26 in this game, stopping 13 of 18 shots she faced.
Forget the highlights. There are none, but after all those goals...
SATURDAY: After both teams threw caution to the wind one night earlier, were we going to get another crazy game of scoring and special teams? Regina's overtime win moved them into a tie with Calgary in the standings, so this game would determine who would be seventh-place in the conference for at least one week. Arden Kliewer was in the Regina net on Saturday while the Dinos went back to Gabriella Durante for their goaltending needs.
There was only one goal scored in the first period in this game, but it was the same person who opened the scoring one night earlier as Sydney Mercier's shot looked it was deflected, but the goal was credited to Mercier for her third goal of the season as Calgary jumped out to the 1-0 lead at 12:02. Calgary was the far more aggressive team in terms of putting shots on net in the opening frame, though, as they appeared to not want another game to slip away, but Kliewer was solid in the opening frame. The 1-0 lead stood at the end of 20 minutes with Calgary holding a 12-4 margin in shots.
The second period began the same way as the first period with Calgary as the aggressors, but a penalty on the Dinos was the break the Cougars needed. Olivia Leggett's shot from the right circle was tipped by Paige Hubbard in front of Durante, and the deflection was enough to get by the goaltender as Regina tied the game at 1-1 on the power-play at 9:22! Calgary would respond five minutes later when Elizabeth Lang got the puck to Courtney Kollman who made a nice move to avoid a check before sniping a shot past Kliewer for her third goal of the season at 14:48 to put Calgary up 2-1. Like they did one night earlier, the Cougars weren't going away without a fight as they'd find an equalizer when Shaylee Scraba went backhand on Durante high on the blocker side for her first tally of the season, and that marker at 15:44 made it a 2-2 game! The teams would hit the second break still tied at 2-2, but Calgary was up 24-11 in shots.
Regina and Calgary would trade chances early in the third period with neither side finding the back of the net, but the Cougars would continue to press. At the midway point of the period, Julianne Girardin would redirect a Paige Hubbard feed towards the Calgary net that Durante could not stop for her first Canada West goal and the 3-2 Regina lead at 10:30! Calgary looked to equalize, but they'd see their opportunity for a late push evaporate with a penalty in the final minutes as the Regina Cougars claimed a second victory with a 3-2 win over the Calgary Dinos! Arden Kliewer earned her third win of the season on an afternoon where she stopped 27 shots while Gabriella Durante stopped 16 shots in the setback.
Highlights are linked above for each of the goals, so it makes me wonder why the Dinos don't do highlight packages if all the goals are already served up for them. It's almost like the Dinos' athletic department is playing the role of Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park.
The first period was played very evenly between these two teams as it seems like there's a bit of a rivalry being forged by the Bisons and Spartans. The scorekeepers had very little to do, though, as there were no goals scored and no penalties called. As such, the score at the first intermission remained 0-0 between the two teams while Manitoba had a 9-8 edge in shots.
Manitoba ramped up their offensive output in the second period as they began to pepper Fawcett with shots, and it paid off early as Kylie Lesuk found room past Fawcett for her second goal of the season, and Manitoba held a 1-0 lead just 2:40 into the period. The battle continued through the period just as it did in the first period with the scorekeepers not using a lot of ink as that Lesuk goal was the only entry they had to make. Through two periods, Manitoba led 1-0 and held a 23-15 margin in shots.
The third period saw the Spartans rise out of their slumber as they became the aggressors with some good chances, but the Bisons were able to withstand the pressure. The two teams would trade power-plays in this period, but neither would find goals on those advantages. Manitoba did their part, though, in defending their cage, and the final horn would sound on a 1-0 Manitoba win over Trinity Western! Meagan Relf picked up her third win and first shutout of the season with a 25-save effort while Kate fawcett suffers the loss on a night where she made 28 saves.
As you may recall, Trinity Western only makes highlight reels of their own goals. So what happens when they're shutout?
SATURDAY: Manitoba found themselves just two points back of Trinity Western following their win on Friday, and a win on Saturday would slide them into fifth-place. The Spartans were looking to pick up a win themselves to restore their four-point cushion over Manitoba while trying to catch those teams ahead of them. Meagan Relf was back between the pipes for Manitoba while Kate Fawcett was in the Spartans' net for the afternoon contest.
Both the Bisons and Spartans were playing the game an uptempo pace on Saturday with Manitoba getting more pucks to the net, but Fawcett was doing her part by keeping the Bisons off the board. The teams traded power-play opportunities, but neither advantage produced goals in what felt like a quick period. At the end of one period, the game remained tied at 0-0 with Manitoba up 9-3 in shots.
The second period was a little more even, but the pucks on net for one team found the back of the net more often. Early in the period, Hannah Bailey blew a tire at center ice which allowed Brooklyn Anderson to break in on Relf untouched, and she beat Relf on the forehand at 5:24 for the 1-0 lead. Six minutes later, the Spartans doubled their lead when Jace Scott's initial shot was stopped, but the rebound popped out to Anderson in the slot where she was checked by Gregoire, but got enough of the puck to push it forward as Jordyn Matthews finished off the play by backhanding it past Relf for her second goal at 11:42, and the Spartans were up 2-0. They'd use a power-play to cash in a third time in the frame when Anderson took a cross-crease pass from Olivia Leier and banged it home for her sixth goal of the campaign, putting the Spartans up 3-0 at 15:36. That would end the scoring for the frame, but the Spartans took the three-goal lead into the break despite Manitoba leading 17-9 in shots.
The third period saw Manitoba pour on the pressure once again as they were granted two power-plays, but nothing would come of those chances. They had a number of shots on net, but Fawcett was unbeatable on this afternoon as she helped the Trinity Western Spartans to a 3-0 win over the Manitoba Bisons! Kate Fawcett picked up her fourth win and first clean sheet of the season thanks to her 26 saves while Meagan Relf suffers the loss in a nine-save game.
Trinity Western technically could be credited with showing highlights of both teams here, but I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt since they pitched a shutout. Here are the Spartans' goals.
The two sides played a fairly even period when it came to chances, but only one of the two teams converted their chances in the frame. Kate Ball broke the tie when she went shelf on Oswald for her third goal of the season, and Saskatchewan grabbed a 1-0 lead at 13:10. Five minutes later, Kendra Zuchotzki snuck in from the left point to take up residence at the edge of the crease where Paris Oleksyn spotted her, and Zuchotzki made no mistake for her second goal as Saskatchewan went up 2-0 at 18:20. The two-goal lead would carry into the break as the Huskies also held a 10-7 edge in shots.
The second period saw both teams continue to attack when given the opportunity, but it was rather quiet for the scorekeepers as there were no goals scored nor any players escorted to the sin bin. Alberta was far more aggressive in the frame when it came to pucks hitting netminders, but that's not going to change the score. Through 40 minutes, Saskatchewan led 2-0 while Alberta led 19-14 in shots.
The third period saw Alberta pour on the pressure as they pushed for goals to even up this game. The teams traded unsuccessful power-plays, and Saskatchewan's defence held strong as time ticked down. When the final horn blared, the 2-0 score was still intact as the Huskies downed the Pandas in this game! Camryn Drever picked up her sixth win and third shutout of the season with a 35-save effort while Halle Oswald took the loss on an 18-save night where she recorded 56:20 of ice time.
Again, there are no highlights here to view, but Saskatchewan records a big win over a team they're chasing in the standings. And what happens after a big win in most sports? We go for ice cream!
SATURDAY: A big win by the Huskies on Friday setup the rematch for Saturday where both Alberta and Saskatchewan wanted the two points up for grabs. Alberta needed to find the back of the net after being shutout for the first time this season, and the Huskies wanted to keep their strong play at both ends of the ice going as they looked to overtake the Pandas. Misty Rey got the start for the Pandas in this game while Camryn Drever was back in the crease for the Huskies.
The teams traded a pair of power-plays in the period, but those eight minutes yielded no goals as both teams continued their strong play while killing penalties. Chances were seen at both ends, but the netminders were also on their games through the opening frame. There wasn't much to talk about for scoring as the horn sounded, but the 0-0 tie saw Saskatchewan outshoot Alberta by an 11-10 count.
The second period saw the Huskies continue their effort in getting shots to the net, and that strategy paid dividends when Kelsey Hall's shot found the top of the net past Rey at 8:19 for the 1-0 lead! Power-plays were traded once again in this period, but neither would find a goal on the advantages. Alberta would get a few good looks, but Drever kept the Huskies side of the scoreboard on zero. After 40 minutes, the Huskies clung to a 1-0 lead and were up 23-18 in shots.
The third period saw these two teams engage in their battle once more, but Alberta began to push as time ticked down. They'd finally solve Drever when Allison Reich beat her with a low shot at 14:37, and this game was tied up at 1-1 on Reich's first goal of the season! The Huskies may have let a chance to win in regulation slip by when Alberta took a late penalty, but the horn would sound on the 60 minutes of play so we'd need overtime to find a winner in this game!
Overtime wouldn't need the full time as the game ended at 2:36 when Pandas captain Izzy Lajoie scored the game-winner past Drever as the Alberta Pandas claimed the 2-1 overtime win over the Saskatchewan Huskies. Misty Rey picked up her second win of the season with a 29-save performance in 62:36 of work while Camryn Drever suffered the overtime loss after making 28 saves.
There are no highlights once again, but the Huskies didn't have a very fun day on Saturday as the Pandas won, the Golden Bears won in hockey, and the Golden Bears won in football all over Huskies teams. It's not often that a school can claim three wins over the same school on the same day in three sports, but Alberta did it on Saturday.
These two rivals started the game at a quick pace, but neither side could find a lot of goals. A power-play opportunity for each team was killed, but UBC was getting more pucks to the net. Ross was holding her end of the bargain while the Cougars defence withstood the barrage. At the end of one period, the score remained 0-0, but the Thunderbirds were up 14-4 in shots.
The second period was a parade to the openalty box as both teams were whistled for multiple penalties throughout the frame. A late penalty to UBC saw the Thunderbirds flip the script on Mount Royal, though, as Mackenzie Kordic snapped a high shot on Ross that beat her under the bar for the shorthanded goal - her eighth goal this season - as UBC grabbed the 1-0 at the 17:33 mark! The teams would settle down after that goal as no additional penalties were called, but UBC carried the 1-0 lead into the break as they held a 26-10 edge in shots.
The third period was tightly contested again, but UBC found a way to double their score when Cassidy Rhodes went low on the stick side for her sixth goal as UBC went up 2-0 at 10:51. They'd grab a three-goal lead a few minutes later when Annalise Wong forced a turnover at the MRU blue line, skated in untouched, and beat Ross for another shorthanded goal as Wong's first goal made it 3-0 at 15:31. From there, the UBC defence did their part to help Hugens, and the Thunderbirds would skate to the 3-0 win over the Cougars. Elise Hugens filed away her seventh win and second shutout of the season after stopping all 14 shots she faced while Kaitlyn Ross stopped 28 shots in the setback.
As per UBC's standard, they don't bother showing off the top-ranked team in the country because that's something you'd think of which they'd be proud. Instead, let's learn a little about Wes McCauley from Sportsnet's Hometown Hockey's segment Hometown Heroes.
SATURDAY: Mount Royal likely wasn't happy with the results the night before after the effort they put in, so I expected them to push back on Saturday. UBC was looking to make it a ten-game win streak with another victory over the Cougars, but adding another win over a ranked team surely would help them in their push for the top ranking once again this week. Kaitlyn Ross and Elise Hugens stared one another down once again from each end of the ice.
This game started with some hiccups thanks to the early penalties, so it didn't quite have the same pace as Friday's tilt. When the teams finally started playing hockey, the period was nearly over. However, the scoring was just getting started. Mount Royal used the final power-play of the period to get on the board when Ava Metzger tipped Jori Hansen-Young's shot past Hugens for her first goal, and the Cougars led 1-0 at 17:15. 18 seconds later, Madisyn Wiebe went in alone on Ross and skated back to the bench with her seventh goal of the season on the board to make it 1-1. Mount Royal would take a lead before the horn, though, as Athena Hauck intercepted a pass at the UBC blue line, skated in alone, and potted her fourth goal at 19:09, and the Cougars led 2-1 at the intermission with the teams recording 12 shots apiece.
More early penalties disrupted play in the early part of the second period, and UBC took advantage on their first advantage of the period. Rylind MacKinnon fed a cross-crease pass to Mackenzie Kordic who popped it home on the power-play to even the game at 2-2 just 3:53 into the frame. MRU would regain the lead once again as Aliya Jomha finished off a two-on-one with Emma Bergesen, and her third goal put the Cougars up 3-2 at 4:58. Midway through the period, Sophia Gaskell loaded up the cannon and hammered one past Ross from the point at 11:44 to make it 3-3 off her fouth goal of the campaign. From there, things settled down as the penalties calmed, the chances were denied, and the 3-3 tie is how we'd reach the second break with UBC up 22-21 in shots.
The third period was quite entertaining as there were few stoppages for paperwork, so the teams could skate freely. Goalies made saves, defences moved pucks, and the hockey was quite enjoyable to watch. MRU killed off both penalties they were assessed while UBC killed off their lone infraction, but the final horn of regulation time would sound with the 3-3 still on the board, so it was off to overtime for this game as UBC held a 39-21 count in shots. Yes, Mount Royal apparently recorded no shots in the period.
I'll save the drama and inform everyone that the five-minute overtime period saw no penalties and no goals by either team. MRU did outshoot the Thunderbirds 4-2, but this game would need the skills competition to find a winner. In the shootout, the first three shooters for each side - Hauck, Jomha, and Bergesen for MRU and Bassi, Rhodes, and Kordic for UBC - were denied. In the fourth round, Jacquelyn Fleming was stopped before Breanne Trotter skated in, faked a shot, and went backhand through the five-hole on Hugens for Mount Royal to claim the 4-3 shootout win over UBC! Kaitlyn Ross earned her sixth win of the season with a 38-save performance plus four more stops in the shootout in 65:00 of work while Elise Hugens suffered the extra time loss after stopping 22 shots in 65:00 before stopping three of four in the skills competition.
No highlights from UBC means we get more Wes McCauley!
| School | Record | Points | GF | GA | Streak | Next |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UBC | 10-0-0-2 | 22 | 59 | 16 | L1 | BYE |
| Alberta | 6-2-2-0 | 16 | 27 | 11 | W1 | vs MRU |
| Saskatchewan | 7-2-0-1 | 15 | 25 | 15 | L1 | @ CAL |
| Mount Royal | 4-3-3-0 | 14 | 30 | 19 | W1 | @ ALB |
| Trinity Western | 5-4-0-1 | 11 | 25 | 25 | W1 | @ MAC |
| Manitoba | 3-6-0-1 | 7 | 19 | 40 | L1 | vs REG |
| Regina | 2-6-1-1 | 7 | 19 | 39 | W3 | vs MAN |
| Calgary | 1-7-1-1 | 5 | 22 | 32 | L6 | vs SAS |
| MacEwan | 1-9-0-0 | 2 | 14 | 43 | L9 | vs TWU |
Scandal In The OUA
As I wrote yesterday, the Western Mustangs women's hockey program is embroiled in scandal thanks to an investigation that Western did into the behaviours of head coach Candice Moxley and former strength and conditioning coach Jeff Watson. As per the findings in the investigation, Watson's employment was terminated by the university despite him resigning from his post previously while Moxley's services as head coach have been retained and she will be reinstated. And that's where the bottom falls out in this story.Players have maintained that Moxley is the problem, and are now threatening to boycott all practices and games in which Moxley is involved. At the heart of the matter seems to be a complete lack of transparency in that the investigation was conducted by a former Board of Trustees member at Brescia University College, the Board of Directors at King's University College, and a former adjacent professor in Western's Faculty of Law in lawyer Elizabeth Hewitt. As per the players, they do not believe the investigation was fair, unbiased, and transparent.
In a letter written to University president Alan Shepard, the players wrote, "We had an expectation that Western University would believe us, the survivors of the psychological abuse we faced from Coach Moxley," as the allegations made against Moxley are quite serious. You can read my thoughts when the allegations first surfaced here.
This is going to get worse before it gets better if Western is going to stick to their guns and protect its brand rather than looking out for the good of the women on the hockey team. The players have made serious allegations against a coach who they feel jeopardized their mental and physical well-beings and are prepared to back those allegations up with action in form of not participating in practices or games as long as the school backs the coach against whom those very allegations have been made.
If Western University is worrying about its brand being tarnished over an investigation, they might want to consider the fallout of an investigation perceived to be biased and non-transparent. There are now 30 women who have motivation to tarnish the school's reputation if they choose, and having practices and games publicly being boycotted by their players won't make their hockey program any more attractive to potential recruits.
I'll keep an eye on this moving forward.
He Said It
"Every win counts in this league, so let's not look past that or take anything for granted. MRU is going to come at us tomorrow, they're hungry and they're not going to want to leave here without taking points from us; so we gotta match that focus and that intensity and come ready to battle even harder."UBC head coach Graham Thomas said the words above following Friday's game, apparently knowing that Mount Royal was going to be better on Saturday. It seems he was right as Mount Royal took two points and snapped the winning streak of the Thunderbirds. I don't know much about Thomas' approach to the game psychologically, but, if he knew that on Friday, why wasn't UBC more prepared for a better MRU team on Saturday?
Things that make me go, "Hmmmm...".
Back Behind A Bench
Congratulations go out to former Manitoba Bisons forward and assistant coach Venla Hovi as she's headed back behind a bench as a coach! Venla joined head coach Laura Bellamy and associate coach Meredith Roth on the Harvard Crimson women's hockey team coaching staff as an assistant coach on October 30! Her first games as one of Harvard's coaches came this weekend, so how did the former Finnish Olympian's new team do?A 1-1 tie on Friday against Princeton was Harvard's first point of the season, but they followed that up with a 7-1 loss to the always-powerful Quinnipiac Bobcats. Harvard now sits at 0-6-1 on the season so there's some work to do for this Harvard team to improve, but we've seen Venla's influence on the Bisons as well as her effect as a coach on the PHF's Metropolitan Riveters.
Congratulations to Venla on the new position with Harvard, and I look forward to watching her turn that program around alongside Bellamy and Roth to make the Crimson dangerous once again!
The Last Word
If there's a team that has looked entirely different from last season, the Calgary Dinos might be that team. Last season seemed to change positively for the Dinos when they found some consistently good goaltending and their special teams showed up. I keep waiting for those two pieces of their game to kick into gear this season, but they seem to be absent through the first third of the season of the season.While I did expect them to take a slight step back following the departure of some of their veterans and head coach Carla MacLeod, it appeared they had recruited well to replace some of the scoring while Josh Gosling is an accomplished coach in his own right. Something is missing from the Dinos, and trying to pinpoint it on a player-by-player basis isn't easy because most of their veterans are still skating for the team.
It's lazy for me to pin this on goaltending, but there were a few instances this weekend where Gabriella Durante simply missed the puck or had it go off her and into the net. She's 1-7-1 with a 3.24 GAA and an .893 save percentage, so she will need to improve those numbers, but that also can happen with the entire team tightening up defensive play in their own zone through better gap control and being quicker to collapse when pucks get to the middle of the ice.
The major area of concern I'd be working on is special teams with an emphasis on the power-play where they need to score goals while preventing goals from being scored. The likes of Elizabeth Lang, Rebecca Clarke, Sydney Mercier, and Courtney Kollman have a combined three assists on the Calgary power-play this season, so something needs to change quickly. Those proven scorers can't be relegated to second or third options for a team that desperately needs scoring when it has the extra player on the ice.
Let's not forget that Calgary beat Alberta, Trinity Western, UBC, and Saskatchewan once last season, and took three games off Manitoba including two in Winnipeg. This Calgary team has a lot of those same players who earned wins over the conference's best teams last season, and I suspect some smaller changes can have a big impact on this team's success heading towards the December break.
If Calgary is going to push for a playoff spot, getting a jump on that push earlier rather than later is a wise move. Let's see what happens next week when they host Saskatchewan.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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