TOMMIES FORCE GAME THREE WITH 4-1 WIN OVER HUSKIES

(Fredericton, NB) The St. Thomas Tommies downed the St. Mary's Huskies 4-1 in game two of the best-of-three Subway AUS women's hockey championship series Sunday afternoon in front of 774 spectators at the Grant-Harvey Centre.  

Game three is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8 at 7:00 pm in Halifax.

"We didn't expect to a have a 4-1 game, we thought it would be a one-goal game," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said. 

"I've been on that side of it before, and really it was a one-goal game but you get into a game where you're down a couple and you have to start pressing a little bit. We're a quick counter team and we like to take advantage of any opportunity you give us and I think that's what you saw with the goals that we scored."

It was back and forth in the first with both teams trading chances. The best scoring opportunity came in the dying seconds of the period as the puck stalled in the Tommies' crease after netminder Taylor Cook made a pad save. The Huskies looked to capitalize, but Lauren Henman made a crucial defensive play to clear the puck. 

"Cook was doing great, but we had some other people in there playing defense. That was pretty exciting, but maybe a little too exciting for the coaching staff on the bench," Murphy said. 

"It was nice to see the girls being aware. You can just as easily be watching that puck go in and not do anything about it."

The Huskies came out firing in the second with Breanna Lanceleve ringing a shot off the cross bar early in the frame. It was the Tommies who would open the scoring, though, with Teah Anderson beating Huskies' goaltender Rebecca Clark with a shot from the slot at 3:34. 

Less than a minute later, Kelty Apperson followed suit on a partial three-on-two, finishing a great play from Emily Oleksuk and Henman to put the Tommies up 2-0. 

The Huskies, who outshot the Tommies 17-8 in the period, eventually found the back of the net as Caitlyn Schell beat Cook stick side to cut SMU's deficit to 2-1 heading into the final frame. 

The momentum shifted to the Tommies in the third. They scored two unanswered goals in the frame—the first off Henman's stick at 3:34 and the second from Kenya Marcelline, who tipped home a nice dish from Anderson at 6:53 en route to a 4-1 Tommies win. 

"Teah has been great for us all year long," Murphy said when asked about Anderson's two-point performance. "She does a lot of the little things, quietly goes about her business and plays her game of hockey. You saw her shine today in a must-win kind of game."

Cook was named the Tommies' player of the game for her 30-save performance, while Schell was given player of the game honours for the Huskies. 

The championship will be decided in game three Tuesday night in Halifax.  Source STU communications, photo Shawn Murphy