REDS Rally Past Tommies

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS and St. Thomas Tommies wrote another chapter in the history of the Battle of the Hill on Wednesday.

In that chapter, the REDS scored twice in the third period to beat their cross-campus rivals 3-2.

Payton Hargreaves (Whitby, ON) scored UNB's winner just past the mid-way point of the third period.

"Winning over STU is always a great feeling," said the REDS' captain. "Because of the Battle of the Hill, it's always a great rivalry, but especially bouncing back from a couple of losses recently. We've been playing good hockey, but we weren't playing REDS hockey specifically, so we really came together today and stuck it out there."

After a scoreless first period, the Tommies opened the scoring 3:12 into the second when Lauren Smith (Truro, NS) tipped a Katelin Moffatt (Winnipeg, MB) point shot.

Mid-way through the period, first-year REDS forward Alex Parvin (Burlington, ON) fired a bullet of a shot over the glove and shoulder of Katie Sweeney (Techumseh, ON) in the Tommies net to tie the game.

But just 47 seconds later, Moffatt restored the St. Thomas lead with a power-play goal and the Tommies took a 2-1 edge to the second intermission.

After UNB was forced to kill more than a minute-forty of a 5-on-3 Tommies power-play, Lauren Carter (Milton, ON) rewarded her teammates.

She pounced on a big rebound in the slot and backhanded the puck past Sweeney to tie the score 2-2.

Less than three minutes later, Hargreaves scored on a rebound as well, following a nice push to the net by first-year RED Lilly Bell (Waterloo, ON).

"Lilly made a great step up on the boards, on the blue line, kept the puck in and then made a great move around the STU defender, then she walked in and I was just hoping for the backdoor play and it was there and I was just swinging at it," said Hargreaves. "It was a great play by Lilly."

The win snaps UNB's two-game losing streak and improves the REDS' record to 11-3-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL).

The loss ends the Tommies' two-game winning streak. They're now 7-5-2-1.

Hannah LeClair (Norboro, PE) made 31 saves on 33 shots to earn the win in the REDS net. She was named Tim Horton's Player of the Game.

Sweeney made 20 saves on 23 shots in the St. Thomas net.

The game was the final home game before the Christmas break for the REDS, who go on the road for their next two games, starting Saturday when they visit Mount Allison. Game time is 7:00pm.

The Tommies are back on home ice on Saturday, hosting the UPEI Panthers in a 7:00pm start.

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: Fran Harris/for UNB Athletics