Antigonish, NS – The UNB Reds spoiled the party of over 1400 fans at the STFX Keating Centre Monday night as they shutout the X-Women 1-0 in Game 2 of the Subway AUS championship series.
The victory ties the series at one game apiece, forcing Game 3 back in Fredericton on Wednesday night.
Subway player of the game Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) stood tall in the UNB net as she has done so often all season as she had 34 saves on the night.
"We knew we were going to get lots of shots whenever we play against them, so we were prepared for that," noted Woodland after the game.
"They shoot from everywhere so just that preparation of knowing you're going get peppered every once in awhile and being prepared for it. I thought our team did a great job of blocking some shots and taking away those short side opportunities. It was a great team effort today."
The first period saw the Reds come out with a jump to their stride and X-Women goaltender Jamie Johnson (Victoria, BC) had to be sharp early on. The UNB defense held the X-Women to only one shot throughout the opening nine minutes of play but after shaking off the nerves, X had several solid scoring chances.
Both teams exchanged power play opportunities but the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes as the Reds outshot the X-Women 15-10.
It was the X-Women's turn to shut down the UNB offense as they held them without a shot on goal until 11:04 when veteran Reds forward Alayna Wagstaff (Olds, AB) made it count by scoring on the Reds first shot on goal of the period. Myah Bowal ((Terrace, BC) fed Wagstaff a pass from neutral ice and she beat Johnson five-hole after streaking down the right wing.
The X-Women held a 12-9 shot advantage in the middle period but could not solve Woodland. Their best chance came on a two-on-one with AUS playoff leading scorer Maggy Burbidge (Falmouth, NS) and Chloe Vukosa (Mississauga, ON) but Woodland made a big glove save.
When asked what the X-Women need to do to solve Woodland, head coach Ben Berthiaume noted, "I don't think we had our best effort tonight, we sat back a little bit too much, we need to get in front of her. She saw a lot of pucks tonight and we need to be willing to get to the dirty areas to score goals on her."
Wagstaff's goal held up as the game winner as the third period remained scoreless. It was fast paced action throughout the quick period and the X-Women tried frantically to score the equalizer but to no avail.
Final shots in the game were 34-31 in favour of STFX. Johnson posted 30 saves and was named STFX's Subway player of the game.
The series now shifts to Fredericton for the deciding game three on Wednesday night to determine the AUS champion.
Both teams will be advancing to the U SPORTS national championship taking place March 16-19 at the Université de Montreal but as Woodland noted, "We had our backs up against the wall today and regardless of going to nationals next week, you still want to go with a trophy."
Looking ahead to Wednesday she commented, "We have to stick to our own game plan, focus on us first, get in a good recovery tonight and tomorrow and then it's showtime on Wednesday."
Likewise, Coach Berthiaume said they were not happy with tonight's game and we have to "let this sink in for tonight, then move on and take it to them like we did in game one."
The same two teams battled for the AUS title last year with UNB prevailing to win their first and only AUS championship banner as they look to repeat as conference champs.
STFX has 11 AUS titles, with their last one coming in 2020. Puck drop is 7:00 pm at the Aitken Centre.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics