On Feb. 4 the Brock women’s hockey team took on the Laurier Golden Hawks. The Badgers were looking to win two in a row after their 3-1 win against Western on Feb. 3. It also marked their third and final matchup against Laurier of the regular season, as the Badgers beat them in their first two matchups 2-1 in a shootout and 3-1.
In the first minute of the game, the Badgers had a great opportunity as Rebekah Feld manoeuvred herself through two defenders and centred the puck out front to two Badgers who unfortunately missed the pass due to a good stick by the Laurier defender.
The Badgers used that great first shift as something to build off of. They controlled a lot of the offensive zone time early, working the puck low to high and pinning Laurier in their own end. Kaitlyn Colonna had a great chance at the 15:00 minute mark as she rushed end to end before riffling a shot at the Laurier goaltender who made the save and controlled the rebound.
The rest of the first period was more of the same as the Badgers continued to dominate both sides of the ice, out-shooting their opponent 10-2. But they were unable to solve Acadia Carlson who kept the game scoreless through 20 minutes of play.
The Badgers got off to a great start in the second period getting in on the forecheck leading to their first powerplay of the game just 30 seconds into the period. Brock’s powerplay has improved as of late as they now have a 10.6 per cent conversion rate.
The Badgers controlled the puck in the offensive zone moving it around looking for shooting lanes but could not get the puck through to the net. The pressure led to Laurier taking two more penalties and the Badgers having another full four minutes on the powerplay. But they were unable to convert as Carlson continued to dominate in between the posts.
Just less than ten minutes through the second the Badgers took a penalty that then led to four more penalties being called against them the rest of the period. Laurier got a few good chances but despite Kenzie Harmison not seeing much rubber in the game, she made some big saves. After killing off ten minutes worth of penalties both teams managed to get out of the period without allowing a goal in a period that saw eight minor penalties called in total.
Throughout 40 minutes of play, the shots were 16-9 in favour of Brock. To start the third period both teams were playing conservatively not wanting to give the other an inch of ice.
The game started to open up again at the end with the best chance towards the end of the period. A Badgers three on two rush led to a tough angled shot turned away by the sprawling Acadia Carlson. The goaltender battle continued as Harmison and Carlson both posted shutouts through three periods despite both team’s trading chances down the stretch.
The two teams headed to overtime for the second time this season. Brock once again controlled the start of the overtime period spending much of the first 90 seconds in the Laurier zone.
An attempted clear by Laurier’s defender was picked off by Rebekah Feld who stormed back into the zone on a two-on-zero opportunity with Catriona Cormier. Feld made a nice forehand to backhand move but Carlson made an even better blocker save.
Just a minute later a defensive zone mishap for the Badgers was picked up by the Laurier forward who took it in 1 on 1 against Harmison and beat her with a quick forehand to backhand deke to end the game just less than half way through the overtime.
Laurier avoided the season series sweep and the Badgers failed to win what would’ve been their third back-to-back wins on the season. Kenzie Harmison finished the game with 14 saves on 15 shots while Acadia Carlson posted a 26-save shutout, her fourth shutout of the season.
Brock is back in action next weekend Feb. 11 at Canada Games Park against Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Both Brock and TMU are 4-6 in their last ten games and Brock has won the only matchup between the two teams this season, 4-2.
Tickets for that game can be bought here and the game can also be streamed on OUAtv. For information on the women’s hockey team visit gobadgers.ca.
