(HALIFAX, N.S.) St. Thomas forward Trinity Webber (Brampton, Ont.) scored the series winning goal 5:03 into overtime, as the Tommies defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 2-1 to win the best-of-three quarterfinal series of the Bell AUS Women's Hockey Championship on Saturday night at the Dauphinee Centre.
The Huskies had an opportunity to score first late in the period as forward Jillian Duggan (Halifax, NS) stole the puck and broke out on a breakaway, but was denied by Tommies netminder Katie Sweeney (Tecumseh, ON).
On the ensuing counter-attack, the Tommies broke out on a odd-man rush, with forward Nadia Lavoie (St. Isidore, AB) beating Huskies netminder Ridleigh Hansen (Red Deer, AB) to put the visitors ahead 2-1 at 18:32 of the first period.
The Huskies outshot the Tommies 8-4 in the first period, but it was the visitors who took a 1-0 lead into first intermission.
Early in the second period, the Tommies were on a powerplay and had several quality scoring opportunities, but Huskies netminder Ridleigh Hansen (Red Deer, AB) stood tall, making several quality saves to keep Saint Mary's within a goal.
That paid off midway through the period, as the Huskies equalized off a phenomenal effort by forward Gillian Lapierre (Port Coquitlam, BC) who took a pass from linemate Jillian Duggan and deked around a defender, beating Sweeney to tie the game at 1-1, 9:51 into the second period.
The Tommies outshot the Huskies 12-10 in the second period, as the two teams went into intermission tied up 1-1.
Both teams pushed for the game-winner in the third period, but neither team was able to beat the solid goaltending of Hansen and Sweeney, and the game would be decided in overtime.
Just over five minutes into the overtime period, the Tommies won it, as forward Trinity Webber (Brampton, ON) stole the puck away from a Huskies defender and played a pass back to defender Amber Daley (Regina, SK) who threw a shot on net that was deflected in by Webber, giving the Tommies the 2-1 win and advancing them to the semifinal.
The Huskies outshot the Tommies 28-24 on the night, with Katie Sweeney making 27 saves for the win, while Ridleigh Hansen stopped 22 shots in defeat.
With the win, the Tommies advance to the AUS semifinal, where they will face the #2 seed STFX X-Women, with schedule information to be announced.
Source: Allan April / Saint Mary's Huskies Athletics