Dylan Matthias, Sports Editor
Thanks to Jenelle Hulan, it was a close game. The Dalhousie Tigers women’s hockey team dominated the Mount Allison Mounties on Jan. 7 at Memorial Arena, but could only manage one goal in regulation. Robyn Nicholson scored a controversial goal 3:30 into overtime to give Dal a 2–1 win.
The Tigers outshot the Mounties 38–9 over the whole game and 26–6 in the second and third periods combined. Despite that dominance, the game was within Mt. A’s reach several times. Hulan, the Mountie’s goaltender, made save after save to keep her team in it.
“I wanted to win so bad,” said Hulan. “I wasn’t going to let it slip. … (Dal) used to be one of the best teams in the league and they used to be beating us eight to nothing and I figured, well, if nobody else wants to step up than I want to.”
Dal struggled to begin the game, giving Mount A an easy goal 1:45 into the first. Courtney King caught Dal’s defence on a bad pinch and although goalie Ashley Boutilier kicked her shot aside, King found her own rebound and then Lindsay James in front of the net for an easy tap-in.
Dal’s defence looked awful most of the night, and against a more dangerous team than the 5–6–1 Mounties would have been lit up. Aggressive play at the defensive blue line and in the neutral zone coupled with lackadaisical back-checking led to numerous odd-man rushes. Only Dal’s significant size advantage and a Mount A team described by Hulan as “all over the place” kept the score low.
Hulan had a pretty good shutout bid going, and after some spectacular diving and reflex saves, looked capable of achieving it until 17:47 of the second, when Laura Shearer scored off the rebound of a first close-range shot. A Mounties defence that had limited Dal’s chances by collapsing in front of Hulan were a bit slow clearing the puck this time and Shearer capitalized.
Jocelyn LeBlanc, who’s been in a rut for the Tigers for several games, only managed four shots in the game and was overshadowed by players like Miranda McMillan, Rebecca Smyth and Fielding Montgomery, all of whom had excellent games.
Brooke Winch was lucky to avoid a significant penalty after drilling Megan Davies’ head into the glass in the third period. The ref, who was on the other side of the ice at the time, called no penalty for boarding, body checking or hitting the head, any of which could have easily been given.
A powerplay to start the overtime cancelled out some late pressure from Mount Allison at the end of the third period, and allowed Dal to control the overtime. Hulan continued to look a lot bigger than her 5′ 2” frame. Mount A clung on, with Davies stopping a Robin Mullen break just ten seconds in with a great poke check.
“I couldn’t believe the call at the end,” said Hulan. “I thought I had it in my glove but she came and smacked it right out.” Nicholson’s winner was doubly controversial because Laura Shearer quite obviously hooked the Mount Allison defender on the hands to strip her of the puck at the point.
Mount Allison have beaten Dal twice already this year, including a very controversial 3–0 win that saw Dal shorthanded 11 times and take 34 minutes in penalties. Alyssa Hennigar missed the Jan. 7 game after being suspended on Nov. 27. She was also prohibited from playing in all of Dal’s Christmas break games. The Tigers only dressed 16 skaters as Christina Patterson, Lyndsey LeBlanc, Rebecca Sweet, Isabelle Germain and Rachel Cox were all injured.
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