Tommies Take Shootout Victory on Think Pink Night

The St. Thomas University Tommies defeated the Dalhousie University Tigers 3-2 in a shootout on Think Pink in the rink night at the Grant-Harvey Centre.  

The Tommies, sporting their pink jerseys did not open the scoring until their second powerplay late in the second period. Emma Wilson (Midhurst, ON) put the puck into a wide-open net off a rebounded shot from the point.  

The Tommies added to their lead early in the third period when Libby Howatt (Charlottetown, PE) threaded a pass-through multiple Tigers in the neutral zone to send Stephanie Goertzen (Caledon, ON) on a scoring break.  

The Tigers cut the two-goal deficit in half with a shot redirected in front of the Tommies net by Brooklyn Paisley (Shawnigan Lake, BC). The Tigers continued to surge in the second half of the third period when Brooklyn Paisley (Shawnigan Lake, BC) scores yet again in front of the Tommies net.  

With the game tied at two goals apiece Tommies goalie Katie Sweeney (Tecumseh, ON) made two of her biggest saves of the night. Sweeney fought off two chances out front including a screened shot from the point and an opportunity from a Dalhousie Tiger left alone in front of the net.  

The game needed a five-minute overtime period that had Tommies' fans on the edges of their seats, but the Tommies remained calm and collected despite multiple chances from Dalhousie. 

Tommies' Head Coach Peter Murphy said, "We've been in overtime before this year and been successful, so it wasn't so much easing the nerves it was just trying to figure who we were going to run the three-on-three with." 

In the exciting shootout finish Sweeney sealed the game by stopping all three of her shooters. Tommies' shooters went one for three, the lone shootout scorer Goertzen went top shelf on the Tigers goalie with the second attempt to win the game.  

Sweeney throughout overtime and the shootout said "I just kind of have to remind myself that I just need to think about the puck like the one thing I need to win. So, I tend to focus as much as I can and blur everything else out."

STU is now 4-5-1 while the Tigers are 4-4-1. The Tommies will visit the St. Fx X-Women next weekend for a 7:00 puck drop on Nov. 11, while the Tigers make their way to PEI for tomorrow's puck drop at 3:00 against the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers. 

The Tommies go on the road to take on the StFX X-Women next Friday Nov. 11 at 7:00pm. The Dalhousie Tigers next matchup is tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm against the UPEI Panthers in PEI.  

Recap by: Oliver Pearson