
FREDERICTON, N.B โ It wasnโt the end they wanted at all.
It wasnโt even the performance they wanted, as the Wilfrid Laurier womenโs hockey team dropped a 6-3 decision in the bronze medal game of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) against the Saskatchewan Huskies Sunday afternoon.
Laurier, who came in as the second seed, couldnโt move any pucks past the Huskies netminder Cassidy Hendricks and scrambled most of their possessions.
Even with eight man advantages, Laurier couldnโt take advantage โ but the Huskies did, as they scored five powerplay goals en route to the bronze medal.
โIt was just eerily similar to the first game against McGill where we had pucks lying around their net all game long and we just couldnโt get enough sticks on them in the blue paint,โ said head coach Rick Osborne. โToday, with 42 shots, we had plenty of opportunities. We certainly were snake bitten and we were playing a really tough team. It was a battle of wills out there between two really tough teams and we came up short.โ
In the first, second-year Robyn Degagne opened the scoring only six minutes in as she beat Hendricks to put the Hawks up.
However it wouldnโt last long, as on the powerplay Julia Flinton would put her first of three past rookie netminder Amanda Smith to tie it up going into the first intermission.
The second was a comedy of penalties for both teams, as Saskatchewan suffered four penalties to Laurierโs three, but nothing could be solved. Saskatchewanโs Flinton would put her second past Smith early in the period, before Laurier captain Laura Brooker would break through the zone alone on a four-on-four against Hendricks and put a beauty past to tie it up once again.
However, on the powerplay once again, Flinton would send a shot bar down to give the Huskies the lead going into the third.
Fifth-year Devon Skeats, in her last game as a Hawk, put one past Hendricks to tie it up once again.
But after that, it was all the Huskies. Three unanswered goals, two from Sara Greschner, including an empty netter by Marley Ervine, would give the bronze medal to Saskatchewan.
โThe second period was a nightmare. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,โ Osborne said.
Laurier allowed the most goals they have all season in the CIS bronze medal game. Degagne and third-year Jessie Hurrell tied for most goals at two a piece.
Fifth-years Skeats and Candice Styles played their last game as a Golden Hawk, as they both graduate.
โItโs definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity,โ Skeats said. โI need to say thanks to Rick. He provided me this opportunity, heโs been supporting me throughout these past five years and thereโs no better school to be a part of than Laurier. Iโm really proud to be a part of this process for the past five years and being a part of four nationals is something not a lot of players can say theyโve done. So Iโm really happy about that.โ
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