By Alex Wauthy
The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s hockey team snapped their five-game winless skid in their pre-season closer against the York Lions, winning 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The match was a battle between two teams who were unable to find their footing in the Ontario University Athletics pre-season—both entering the matchup with goose eggs in the win column. Following a 6-0 slugging at the hands of the Carleton Ravens, the Bold were looking to bounce back in a big way.
“I think we got to sort out a lot of things through the pre-season and in particular, we’ve had a lot of hockey over the past eight days,” head coach Lisa Haley said. “It’s been a pretty demanding schedule.”
The Bold kicked off the first period with a flurry of chances. They swarmed the Lions in the offensive zone, picking off passes, generating opportunities and crashing the net.
Lions third-year goaltender Dominique Chuaqui stood tall, denying TMU’s scoring opportunities. However, the Bold eventually found a crack in Chuaqui’s armour. First-year defender Jayden Fox hit first-year forward Kayla Kondo with a pass. With momentum, Kondo gained an edge on the Lion’s defence and squeaked the puck short side past Chuaqui, putting the Bold up one with 9:48 remaining.
Penalty trouble would sink the Bolds’ seemingly impenetrable momentum. Second-year TMU forward Gaby Gareau took a penalty, giving the Lions a prime opportunity to get back into the game.
The Lions cycled the puck high, refusing to shoot until the perfect chance arose. Second-year forward Alexa Giantsopoulos deflected a point shot from first-year forward Trynity Turner. The puck sailed over Bold first-year netminder Shannon Harris’ glovehand, tying the game at one with four minutes remaining in the first period.
The Lions broke the tie 52 seconds later. Fourth-year York defender Olivia De Ciantis worked the puck low behind the Bold net and threw a pass into the middle of the slot. First-year York forward Kaitlin Teixeira pounced on the loose puck and roofed it.
Midway through the second period, first-year Bold forward Kerrin Kerr stole the puck in the neutral zone and passed it to Kondo, who used her speed to fly by the York defence. She dangled Chuaqui and slid the puck into the net off her backhand, knotting the game at two-a-piece—swinging the momentum back in favour of the Bold.
Following the tying goal, the Lions got into some penalty trouble. An interference penalty followed quickly by a body-checking penalty put the Bold on a five-on-three for nearly two minutes.
“When I saw that one go in, everyone was going off”
The Bold were looking for the go-ahead goal and just as the first penalty ended, Gareau put York’s defence in a blender.
She picked up the loose puck at the top of the hash-marks with second-year Lions defender Jillian Milligan standing in her way. She dropped Milligan with a toe-drag and barrelled to the front of the net. She pulled to her backhand, switched to her forehand and potted it short-side, stunning the goalie and putting the Bold up 3-2.
“I’ve been given the opportunity to play on the power play, so when I got the puck, I really wanted to generate some sort of offensive opportunity,” Gareau said. “I think we definitely needed that after a couple of the calls called against us, so when I saw that one go in, everyone was going off.”
With 5:27 remaining in the second period, fourth-year Lions forward Sasha Brucker hit second-year defender Jess Pollard from behind into the boards. The play stopped for a few minutes before Pollard was helped off the ice and Brucker was awarded a five-minute major for cross-checking.
Despite the ensuing five-minute power-play, the Bold were not able to capitalize on the opportunity.
York opened the final frame, determined to tie the game at three. As the Bold sunk into a defensive mindset, the Lions continued to pepper shots on Harris, hoping one would squeak in. With the constant pressure, staying out of the box was paramount for the Bold—but they couldn’t uphold clean play for long.
“How we’re defending in front of our own net is somewhere we’re going to try and tidy up”
With 11:59 remaining in the period, second-year forward Britni Yammine took a two-minute penalty for head contact. On the ensuing penalty, the Lions made them pay with a point shot, causing a mad scramble in front. With the Bold unable to clear the bodies in front of Harris, fourth-year forward Lexy Anonech snuck the puck past the netminder. The Bold appeared upset the call on the ice was a goal. Visually, it seemed as if Harris’ pad was illegally pushed across the goal line with Aninech’s stick. Regardless, the goal counted.
“How we’re defending in front of our own net is somewhere we’re going to try and tidy up,” Haley said. “They’re getting a lot of second and third looks, doesn’t matter who we’re playing. Harris did a good job making the first save when she could see the puck, so we got to do a good job in front of her and make sure that’s the only save she needs to make.”
The tie game turned into a back-and-forth affair. However, the deadlock persisted for the last 10 minutes and seemed as if overtime would have to decide a winner. As expected, the standstill continued yet again into overtime as the Bold failed to capitalize on the lone power play.
Kondo opened the shootout for the Bold and slid the puck into the yawing cage after a slick move to give TMU the early advantage. Giantsopoulos followed Kondo’s attempt. She attempted to match her energy and flash some finesse of her own but couldn’t capitalize.
Round two of the shootout saw both goalies stand tall, giving the Bold the chance to call-game with a goal in the third round.
With a chance to secure the Bold’s first win of the pre-season, Haley went to Gareau. She flew in off the right side and rifled a shot past the Lions netminder, clinching the 4-3 victory for the Bold.
“That’s one of the things I’ve been happy with our group—how we respond when we face some adversity,” Harris said. “Yesterday was a really tough day, I don’t think any of us have any excuses…there was a lot more compete in us today, it was a great response. We’re a young team, and we’ve done well whether it’s getting scored on or a performance we’re not happy with, so it’s a positive character sign.”
Not only is this the Bolds’ first pre-season win, but also Harris’ first win with the TMU Bold—a shining effort as she stopped 51 of 54 shots.
“[She is] a young player showing a lot of resilience and a lot of self-confidence,” said Haley.
UP NEXT: The Bold kick off their regular season with a three-game road trip, beginning with a Saturday night tilt against the Nipissing Lakers on Oct. 14. Puck-drop is set for 7 p.m.