BURLINGTON, Vt.- Kelsi Moffatt, a freshman rearguard from Pickering, Ont., scored the game-winner midway through the third period and added an assist as McGill rallied for a 3-2 win over the University of Vermont in women's preseason hockey at Gutterson Fieldhouse, Saturday afternoon.
McGill, which outshot the Catamounts by a 25-23 margin, improved to 3-0-1 against Vermont over the last four seasons.
Vermont opened the scoring early in the first period when Delia McNally connected only 71 seconds after the opening faceoff, stepping into a slap-shot at the top of the circle, which beat McGill goaltender Charline Labonté.
The Martlets responded less than five minutes later when veteran defender Cathy Chartrand's shot from the point deflected off the boards to rookie Erika Pyke of Spryfield, N.S., who put it past a sprawling Vermont goaltender Kelci Lanthier.
Vermont struck again on the power play late in the period. Amanda Pelkey centered the puck to Erin Wente in front of the net, Wente fought through her defender and got a quick pass off to Meghan Huertas who beat Labonté with a wrist-shot at 17:45.
The Martlets responded just 32 seconds later when Jordanna Peroff's attempted dump-in from the neutral zone took a strange bounce and found its way past Lanthier to the back of the net, making the score 2-2.
McGill pulled ahead with a power-play goal midway through the final frame. Moffatt took a wrist shot from the point that found the top corner at 9:07 past Lanthier who was screened on the play.
Lanthier recorded 22 saves in her first start and was saddled with the loss.
Labonté, who missed the team's first four preseason contests while attending a national team training camp, stopped 21 shots to earn her second win in as many starts.
"It was nice to have 'Charlie' back in the lineup as she is a big part of the team," said McGill head coach Peter Smith, whose troops also edged St. Lawrence University 2-1 on Saturday in Canton, N.Y. "We really showed up and I was quite satisfied with our play over the weekend. They were both grinder-like games, with neither team giving an inch. It was more like rugby or football than hockey but those type of games are good for our development."
The McGill bench boss also singled out two freshmen as being the sparkplugs in the win over Vermont. "I thought that Pyke up front and Moffatt on the back end both had a breakout game," he said.
Vermont (0-1-1) hosts Rensselaer on Oct. 7 while the Martlets (3-2-1) will open regular season play in the Quebec-based RSEQ conference when they host Concordia on Oct. 7 at McConnell Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
McGill will be looking to extend their 105-game winning streak against Quebec league opponents in addition to a 38-game win streak against the Stingers.
No comments:
Post a Comment