The Dalhousie Tigers’ women’s hockey team moved closer to jumping up in the standings after they defeated the Mount Allison Mounties 3-1 at the Civic arena on Nov. 12.
“Collectively the drive was there today,” said Tigers’ forward Ashley Money. “We wanted that one, like real bad.”
Coming into the game, the Tigers were last in the standings with Mount Allison right above them. The Mounties also hold the final playoff spot. Saturday’s win moved the Tigers to one point behind the Mounties in the standings and it also prevents the Mounties from winning the two-game season series against Dalhousie. If these two teams end up tied for the final playoff spot at the end of the year, then the Tigers’ record against the Mounties could be the difference in making the playoffs.
“These are the teams you have to beat to move up in the standings so we are aware of that,” said Tigers’ assistant coach Shauna Neary.
The Tigers got the first goal four and a half minutes into the game. Tigers’ forward Becca Chilvers passed the puck to Courtney Sheedy at the front of the net. Sheedy banged at the puck but Chivers came in and managed to knock it into the net. Tara Morning also got credited with an assist.
Six minutes later, Jessie Rietveld burst into the Mounties zone with the puck. She shot the puck at the hash marks and it went over the glove of Mountie goalie Keri Martin and into the net. Elizabeth MacArthur got an assist on the goal.
The Mounties did not go away. With 2:44 left in the period, Mountie forward Jessica Campbell cut into the slot and left the puck for teammate Kelly Matarazzo. Matarazzo shot the puck over the glove of Dalhousie’s goaltender, Mati Barrett, and into the net.
Mount Allsion outshot Dalhousie 9-8 in the second period but neither team was able to score.
The Mounties came out flying in the opening ten minutes of the third period and they had multiple chances to tie the game but Mati Barrett was very solid in the net. Gabrielle Vantour had the best chance to tie the game as she cut into the slot from the left wing and tried to put the puck around Barrett, but she lost control of the puck before she could put it into the open net.
With a minute and a half left in the game, the Mounties pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Victoria MacIntosh had the puck coming out of her own zone and instead of trying to shoot for the open net and risk icing the puck, she banked the puck off the boards back to herself and went into the Mounties zone. She shot but missed the net. The puck found its way to Tigers’ captain Lisa Maclean and she shot it into the open net.
The Mounties outshot the Tigers 27-23 in the game. Keri Martin made 20 saves for Mount Allison while Mati Barrett made 26 saves for Dalhousie.
The Tigers came into the game only winning one out of eight games. They have been competitive in every game, only once losing by more than three goals. Neary believes the reason they have been losing is because they haven’t had many consistent efforts.
“We need to play 60 minutes,” said Neary. “Some of those games…we let the gas pedal off for just a few minutes and they pop a couple and we are chasing from behind.”
Money said it was crucial for the team to get the two points and hopes this win can jumpstart a Tigers winning streak.
“We said now that we got this win, we are going to go off on our winning streak now. That’s our goal.”
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