The Brock women’s hockey team concluded their season last weekend losing in their final game to the Western Mustangs, thus missing playoffs. Although it was the first time in multiple years that the Badgers have missed playoffs, that does not mean the season was a failure.
The Badgers started their season with back-to-back wins against the Laurier Golden Hawks and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues on the road. This theme would continue with road games throughout the rest of the season. In those first two games, it was stellar performances from Madelyn Walsh – three goals in two games – that had the Badgers off to a hot 2-0 start.
The following six games did not fair well for the Badgers as they lost five of the next six – two at home, three on the road – and gave up four or more goals in four of those contests.
The Badgers returned home in mid-November with a chip on their shoulder after a three-game road trip and won back-to-back games against York Lions and TMU Bold before dropping the third game to the Varsity Blues. In these games, goaltender Kenzie Harmison bounced back giving up just one goal in the first two games while stopping a total of 51 shots. These two performances added to her two stellar performances from earlier in the season where she posted two shutouts, one against Laurier and the other against York.
Unfortunately, the Badgers’ return home did not spark a winning streak as they ended up dropping their next four games but these ones were kept much closer. Two of the losses were by one goal – a 2-1 loss to Western and a 2-1 loss to Ontario Tech in OT – while unfortunate, signalled that the Badgers were playing a more structured game defensively. But more of the same would continue as the Badgers started 2024 losing in four of their first five games, three of them being one-goal games. Goaltender Kenzie Harmison continued to have stand-out performances but the offence was struggling more and more as the season went on.
The Badgers were in a rut and needed to finish their last nine games just over .500 if they wanted a chance to make playoffs. They won three of their next four which boosted them into the last playoff spot in their division and set them up for success in their last five games. Defender Ashley Robitaille and forward Jenna Duarte were stand-out performers in this stretch with their performance on and off the score sheet. Duarte registered three points in the three wins and Robitaille played stand-out defence and contributed on the offensive side of the puck with a primary powerplay assist in the 2-1 win over Windsor.
But for the Badgers, hot turned to cold and they followed the great four-game stretch with three close games in a row. It all came down to the last two games against Western. Brock battled hard and Harmison had her best two performances of the season but they were only able to nab one of two games, both of which went to overtime.
Although the Badgers missed the playoffs, they saw major growth from some of their younger players like Jenna Duarte; and seniors such as Ashley Robitaille, Madelyn Walsh and Kenzie Harmison had their best seasons as Badgers.
With the season concluded the Badgers will have spots to fill on the roster with the potential departure of seven seniors: Teegan Dalby, Kenzie Harmison, Claudia Murphy, Madeline Nicholson, Ashley Robitaille, Camie Matteau Rushbrook and Kara Thomas.
For all box scores, stats and more on the team, visit gobadgers.ca.
Three Stars of the Season (selected by The Brock Press)
3rd Star: Ashley Robitaille (28GP, 1G, 6A)
2nd Star: Jenna Duarte (22GP, 7G, 5A, 1PPG, 1GWG)
1st Star: Kenzie Harmison (28GP, GA/AVG 2.32, SV% .922, 4 SO)
