March 15, 2015
Guelph closes tournament with win, finishes 5th in CIS
CALGARY (CIS) – Four first period goals for the Guelph Gryphons was enough to carry them to a 4-1 victory over the Moncton Aigles Bleues in the 5th place consolation final of the 2015 CIS women’s hockey championship in Calgary.
(Photo by Joseph Leung)
CALGARY (CIS) – Four first period goals for the Guelph Gryphons was enough to carry them to a 4-1 victory over the Moncton Aigles Bleues in the 5th place consolation final of the 2015 CIS women's hockey championship in Calgary.
The winning goal for the Gryphons came with 8:40 remaining in the first period, as Guelph forward Brittany St. James put in the rebound on teammate Katie Mora's shot, less than a minute after Leigh Shilton's goal gave Guelph the 1-0 lead. With the fifth place finish, Guelph falls just short of their best result in team history, which was a four place finish in 1998.
Moncton, seeded No. 7 and participating in their fifth CIS national championship appearance, was unable to complete another upset after defeating the No. 3 Alberta Pandas 4-1 in yesterday's consolation semi-final.
After Guelph suffered a devastating quarterfinal loss to St. FX, where they blew a 3-0 lead to take a 4-3 loss, they had two very strong comeback games with a 4-2 victory over the University of Calgary Dinos and today's 4-1 decision against Moncton.
"I'm so proud. It would have been so easy to just pack up shop after that loss, teams don't lose games like that every day and you certainly don't lose many of them in a national championship tournament. A lot of teams would have taken that kick in the gut and not been able to bounce back and we bounced back" said Gryphons head coach Scott McMillan. "Not only did we win our last two games, we dominated our last two games…and it shows the type of character that they have in that room. I'm so proud because the knock on this group has been that they don't respond well to challenges and the leadership group in there has turned this into a group that does respond to challenges."
After having the day off Saturday, Guelph came out with a strong start in the first period, recording several shots and a chance off the post by Mora in the first 10 minutes. Their first goal came just past the ten minute mark, with a wraparound by Shilton that beat Moncton goaltender, Emilie Bouchard. With their second goal coming less than a minute later, they continued to put the pressure on Moncton, recording two goals in the 17th minute of the first period, these two coming less than 30 seconds apart.
Gribbons backhand marker with three minutes remaining was enough to chase Moncton's goaltender, but Shilton capitalized on a cold Forget with her second of the night. The Aigles Bleues got on the board with a power play goal five minutes into the third on a nice tip by Katryne Villeneuve, but the Gryphons defence shut the door after that, ruining any chance of a late comeback for Moncton.
''I am very happy with my team," said Moncton coach Denis Ross. "I know Bouchard (goaltender) would like to see the first and third goals. We missed our focus in the first and defensively, we were weak. We came back in the second and third periods as if the score was 0-0. We played better and dominated. We could have scored a few more. My team worked hard and did not abandon with a 4-0 score. We remained disciplined and we brought correction to our play."
Guelph goaltender Stephanie Nehring made 21 saves in her team's victory, while Moncton's Bouchard made 11 saves before being replaced by Forget, who stopped 16. The player of the game awards went to Moncton captain, Marika Lacroix and Rachael Cassidy of the Gryphons.
Source: CIS
