Antigonish, NS – The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues skated away with a 4-0 shutout victory over the U SPORTS No. 6 ranked StFX X-Women Sunday afternoon at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
The Aigles Bleues got out to a 2-0 first period lead thanks to a pair of goals from Aude Massé (Val D'Or, QC).
Her first came just 2:37 into the game off a pass from Katryne Villeneuve (Casselman, ON). The Aigles Bleues kept Cassidy McEwan (Lloydminster, AB) busy in the StFX net with several quality scoring chances in the opening period.
They thought they had scored midway through, but the play was whistled back due to a high stick.
Massé notched her second goal while on the power play with 2:25 left in the period, pouncing on a rebound to put it past McEwan. Villeneuve had an assist, along with Chantal Beauchamp (Halifax, NS).
Shots were even in the first period at 12 apiece.
The Aigles Bleues doubled their lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes with another pair of goals in the second period.
Samantha McLaughlin (Losier Settlement, NB) tallied at 10:28, scoring from an awkward angle from the side of the net as the puck went up and over the shoulder of McEwan. Isadora Quirion (Saint-Gédéon de Beauce, QC) had a helper on the play.
Villeneuve picked up her third point of the game with a goal at 16:09 from Janie Poitras (Saint-André, NB).
Moncton had another goal called back with only 33 seconds left in the period as the officials again called it was directed in the net off a high stick.
It was the X-Women who held a slight 10-9 shot advantage in the second period, but they could not find the back of the Aigles Bleues net as goaltender Audrey Berthiaume (St-Bruno, QC) held her ground.
Carley Molnar (London, ON) replaced McEwan in the StFX net in the third period and she faced only a pair of shots.
The X-Women threw 16 shots on goal at Berthiaume in the final period but were held scoreless as the visiting Aigles Bleues held on for the win.
McLaughlin was the third star of the game, with Berthiaume earning second star status and Villenueve taking home first star and Subway player of the game honours.
The Aigles Bleues will be back in action Friday night, January 11th when they host Dalhousie in a 7:00 pm. StFX will travel to Fredericton Friday night for a game against St. Thomas, also at 7:00 pm.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, StFX Athletics