By: Sean Crocker, BA'18
-----------------------------
The St. Thomas University Tommies defeated the St. Francis Xavier X-Women by a score of 6-3 in AUS women's hockey action Saturday at the Grant-Harvey Centre.
The X-Women got a few opportunities early on the power play but were shut down by the Tommies.
Tommies head coach Peter Murphy was very pleased with how his team performed with their special teams.
"Our powerplay didn't necessarily score today," he said. "Hopefully we can get better against Dalhousie tomorrow."
The X-Women scored to make it 1-0 on a five-on-three power play, but the Tommies responded 14 seconds later with a goal from Lauren Henman.
"Not necessarily intentional, but you want a bit of a momentum shift when the opposition scores, Murphy said. "Everyone took it seriously and we scored on the flying change right away."
The period would end at a score of 1-1, which led to an exciting second period.
"We got progressively better as the game went on so that's what we wanted," Murphy said. "Every period everyone seemed to get a little better"
Less than five minutes into the second frame, Emily Power made it 2-1 for the X-Women on a rebound in front of the net. Once again, the goal did not go unanswered as Alisha Gilbert struck back for the Tommies to tie the game at two.
A scramble in front of the net and a loose puck allowed Lauren Legault to slide the puck into the net to give the lead to the Tommies a 3-2 lead at 10:53.
Early in the third, Samantha Squires scored on a bullet from the point for a 4-2 Tommies advantage. Gilbert followed suit, netting her second of the game 2:25 into the final stanza.
Sarah Bujold of the X-Women scored to narrow the Tommies lead to two, but Henman scored at 16:14 to make it 6-3.
"She did well. She normally shows up on the score sheet a lot," Murphy said of Henman. "You give her an opportunity in close she's going to score."
The Tommies are back in action when they play the Dalhousie Tigers Sunday afternoon at the Grant-Harvey Centre, while the X-Women visit the University of Prince Edward Island on Sunday.