The CIS No. 4 X-Women were able to earn a 5-3 victory over the CIS No. 5 Aigles Bleues in the battle of the top two AUS women’s hockey teams Friday night in Antigonish, NS. Janelle Parent and Brittney Perkins each had one goal and one assist in the victory for the X-Women.
Both teams didn’t waste any time finding the back of the net. Moncton looked solid early, and put the X-Women on their toes for the first six minutes as the Aigles Bleues scored back to back goals to take an early 2-0 lead. Marie-Michelle Poirier, third in AUS scoring, added to her totals scoring the first two goals for the visitors at the 2:31 and 6:13 marks. Poirier’s first goal was a scramble in front of X-Women goaltender Kristy Garrow before she was able to tap in the loose puck on assists from Johannie Thibeault and Marie-Pier Arsenault. Just four minutes later Thibeault connected with Poirier once again as she fed her a beautiful pass that Poirier was able to tap into the open cage. Manon Lemarre also picked up an assist on the play.
After some back and forth action over the next ten minutes, the X-Women finally found some momentum to roll with as Janelle Parent opened the scoring for the X-Women when she batted the puck out of mid-air at the 16:32 mark. Rebecca Traversa and Brittney Perkins picked up assists. The X-Women dominated the final three minutes and were able to get back-to-back goals from Daniela Falconio (Suzanne Fenerty) and Perkins (Alex Normore, Parent) to send the see-saw period to a close with the score 3-2 in favor of the X-Women. The shots were 12-5 for the blue and white after one period.
The second period was the polar opposite from the first period, as both teams settled down their defensive systems and both Kathy Desjardins for the Aigles Bleues and Garrow for the X-Women got back to what made them two of the top netminders in the conference this season. The X-Women once again controlled the pace of the period as they were able to outshoot the Aigles Bleues by a 13-5 margin in the second frame. Both goalies stood tall and didn’t allow any goals in the middle period, as the score remained 3-2 for StFX after forty minutes of play.
The X-Women continued to work hard early in the third period and were rewarded when Erin Brophy scored the insurance marker at the 2:31 mark off feeds from Jenna Pitts and Nicole Hansom. The blue and white were than able to gain a comfortable three goal lead when Jessica McCullough (Hansom, Leah Boucher) wired a low shot past Desjardins at the 6:14 mark.
The pace came to a standstill the next eight minutes or so until Moncton was able to get their third goal of the game on the power play when Jodie Dupere (Janik Robichaud, Marika Lacroix) connected on a hard slap shot that found its way over Garrow’s right shoulder. The Aigles Bleues made it close, but were unable to climb back into the game as the X-Women hung on for an important 5-3 win over their conference rivals.
The X-Women heavily outshot the Aigles Bleues by a 39-12 margin. Kathy Desjardins played a strong game in nets for Moncton turning aside 34 shots, while Garrow faced limited action in goal for the X-Women, making nine saves. Nicole Hansom was the Subway Player of the Game, collecting two assists in the victory for the X-Women.
Neither team will have any time to rest, as they both play Saturday afternoon. The first place X-Women (18-4-0) will stay home and take on the visiting fifth place St. Thomas Tommies (9-10-1) at 3:00 pm in their final home game of the regular season, while the second place Aigles Bleus (16-4-1) will travel to Halifax to take on the seventh place Dalhousie Tigers (7-12-3).