Skeats' hat trick leads Laurier to 3-2 win over StFX

GAME 4 POOL B: CIS women’s hockey championship
Courtesy StFX sports information

ANTIGONISH, N.S. (CIS) – Wilfrid Laurier forward Devon Skeats (Whitby, ON) scored a hat trick to lead the No. 2 ranked Golden Hawks to a 3-2 win over the No. 5 hometown favorite StFX X-Women in front of over 1000 fans at the StFX Keating Centre in CIS round robin action Friday night.

Championship website (including complete stats): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice

X-Women goaltender Katie Harvieux (Digby, NS) kept StFX into the close game with 32 saves on the evening.

After a scoreless first period, Skeats scored with 2:59 left in the second to give the OUA champion Golden Hawks a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. AUS Rookie of the Year Abygail Laking (Cambridge, ON) tied the game with an early third period power play goal for the X-Women.

Skeats put the Hawks back on top with two consecutive third period goals, then X-Women defender Jenna Downey (Stratford, ON) pulled the host team within a goal with 3:04 left in the game. Despite a late power play opportunity by StFX, CIS Player of the Year goaltender Liz Knox (Stouffville, ON) held strong in the Laurier net for the one-goal victory. 

The Golden Hawks opened the game with consecutive power play chances but were held scoreless by Harvieux. X-Women forward Brittney Perkins (North Gower, ON) almost scored a short handed goal, breaking in for the puck but Knox came out of the net to poke it away.

StFX were called on their third penalty of the period and Laurier soon joined them in the box, making for some open ice 4-on-4 action but no goals. Laurier winger Kaley Powers (Kingston, ON) had a good chance, wrapping one around the net but was shut down by Harvieux.

Harvieux set aside two more Laurier shots on a late man advantage, closing out the first period with 11 saves and a 0-0 score. StFX managed only 3 shots on Knox in the opening 20 minutes of play and were called for four minor infractions.

The second period started with another penalty to StFX, but X forward Daniela Falconio (LaSalle, ON) stole the puck in Laurier’s end and almost scored a short handed goal. Knox’s quick glove save put an end to that scoring attempt.

Jessica Shanahan (Calgary) had a good scoring chance for the X-Women while on the power play, shooting off a drop pass from Perkins, but was stopped by Knox. Laurier centre and OUA Rookie of the Year Candice Styles (Orangeville, ON) set up captain Andrea Ironside (Collingwood, ON) for a nice shorthanded scoring chance, but Harvieux came through with the save.

The first goal of the game finally came at 17:01 into the second period as Golden Hawks defender Maureen Mommersteeg (St. Thomas, ON) got a shot off from the point, allowing Skeats to get the rebound in front of a busy net. The period ended with a 1-0 lead for Laurier. Shots were closer at 11-9 for the Golden Hawks.

The Hawks began the third period determined to score, registering several shots on net in the first minute of play. The host X-Women fed off the hometown crowd, however, and Laking scored the equalizer 3:21 in while on the man advantage. Laking faked a pass in front of the Golden Hawks net, pulling the Knox off the post, then shot it past her. Shanahan assisted on the play.

The tie did not last as Skeats scored her second goal of the game at the 10:23 minute mark of the third period, burying the puck in the back of the net while StFX players scrambled out front. Abby Rainsberry (Petrolia, ON) earned the assist. 

As the X-Women were scrambling to score the equalizer, Skeats took the wind out of their sails notching her third goal of the game at 16:34 as she got her stick on bouncing puck in front of the StFX net and it trickled by Harvieux across the goal line. Styles and Ironside were credited with the assists on Skeats’ hat trick goal.  

The X-Women fought back once again and pulled to within a goal as Falconio beat a Hawks defender and let off a shot on goal. The rebound bounced out to the stick of Downey who made no mistake, firing the puck past a helpless Knox and cutting the Laurier lead to 3-2.

In a game filled with 26 total penalty minutes, the last two were called on Laurier with only 2:04 left in the game, giving the X-Women an extra attacker to close out the period. StFX struggled to set up on the power play attack, however, and the Golden Hawks were able to hang on for the win.

The X-Women were 1 for 6 in power play chances on the night while the Golden Hawks were 0 for 7. The final shot tally was 35-19 in favour of Laurier.

With the win the Golden Hawks close out CIS round robin play with a 1-1 record and must now await their fate for Sunday action. The X-Women (0-1) will play the Alberta Pandas (1-0) Saturday night at 7:30 pm (AST) in a game that will decide who moves on to the gold medal game and who is relegated to the bronze and fifth place games.

If Alberta wins by any score they will finish with a 2-0 record and advance to the gold medal game. Laurier would then play for bronze and the X-Women for fifth against the Montreal Carabins (0-2). A StFX win by two or more goals would earn them a ticket to the gold medal match, Laurier would play for bronze and Alberta for fifth. If StFX wins by one goal, all three teams would be in a 0 goals for/against situation, creating an interesting tie breaking situation to try to figure out championship Sunday assignments. The tiebreaking formula of (GF-GA)/GA will depend upon the number of goals scored in the Alberta-StFX game.

In Pool A action, No. 1 seeded McGill (1-0) and No. 4 Saint Mary’s (1-0) will play Saturday at 4:00 pm (AST) to determine who advances to play for the gold medal from that side of the bracket.

SCORING SUMMARY 

Laurier 3, StFX 2

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

No scoring.

PENALTIES:

Carolyn Campbell (StFX) roughing, 4:36; Brenna MacDonald (StFX) hooking, 9:49; Laura Grant (StFX) tripping, 12:56; Devon Skeats (WLU) holding, 13:44; Tyson Beukeboom (StFX) body contact, 19:04

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

1. WLU Devon Skeats (1) (Maureen Mommersteeg), 17:01

PENALTIES:

Jessica Shanahan (StFX) hooking, 1:07; Laura Bartolini (WLU) body contact, 5:46; Abby Rainsberry (WLU) holding, 13:03; Laura Grant (StFX) hooking, 15:00

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

2. StFX Abygail Laking (1) (Jessica Shanahan), 3:21, PP
3. WLU Devon Skeats (2) (Abby Rainsberry), 10:23
4. WLU Devon Skeats (3) (Candace Styles, Andrea Ironside), 16:34
5. StFX Jenna Downey (1) (Catie Gavin, Daniela Falconio), 16:56

PENALTIES:
 
Stephanie Crarey (WLU) body contact, 2:52; Kate Psota (WLU) tripping; 6:24; Brittney Perkins (StFX) hooking, 7:28; Alicia Martin (WLU) hooking, 17:56

GOALS (by period)
StFX: 0-0-2: 2
WLU: 0-1-2: 3

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
StFX: 3-9-7: 19
WLU: 11-11-13: 35

POWER PLAY:
StFX: 1-6
WLU: 0-7

GOALTENDERS
StFX: Katie Harvieux (L, 0-1, 35 shots, 32 saves, 59:34)
WLU: Liz Knox (W, 1-1, 19 shots, 17 saves, 60:00)

BLACKBERRY PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
StFX: Katie Harvieux
WLU: Devon Skeats

REFEREE: Gabrielle Lortie

LINESMEN: Brittany O’Neill, Katie Monahan

ATTENDANCE:  1075

SEEDINGS, POOLS, SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times LOCAL: Atlantic Time)

Pool A
1. McGill
4. Saint Mary’s
6. Montreal

Pool B
2. Wilfrid Laurier
3. Alberta
5. StFX

Thursday, March 11
16:00 Pool A #1: No. 1 McGill 3, No. 6 Montreal 1
19:30 Pool B #1: No. 3 Alberta 1, No. 2 Laurier 0

Friday, March 12
16:00 Pool A #2: No. 4 Saint Mary’s 4, No. 6 Montreal 2
19:30 Pool B #2: No. 2 Laurier 3, No. 5 StFX 2

Saturday, March 13
16:00 Pool A #3: No. 4 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 1 McGill (SSN Canada) 
19:30 Pool B #3: No. 5 StFX vs. No. 3 Alberta (SSN Canada) 

Sunday, March 14
11:00 5th Place: No. 5 Montreal vs TBD (SSN Canada) 
14:00 Bronze (SSN Canada) 
18:00 Final (SSN Canada)

- CIS -

For more information please contact:

Michel Bélanger       
Manager, Communications & Media Relations
Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Ph: (613) 562-5670 ext. 25
Cell: (613) 447-6334
belanger@universitysport.ca
www.cis-sic.ca

Krista McKenna
Sports Information Director
St. Francis Xavier University
Off: (902) 867-5381
Cell: (902) 870-4207
kmckenna@stfx.ca