Posted: Jan 25, 2020
WHKY | Voyageurs Lose a Heartbreaker in a Shootout
The Laurentian Voyageurs women's hockey team played their second game of the weekend against the Windsor Lancers today in Windsor, Ontario.
The Lancers were having a unfortunate season thus far and were holding last place in the OUA with a record of 2-12-3, but they would force an upset in a shootout and ended the Voyageurs' two-game win streak.
Laurentian would pot the first two goals of the matchup on Molly Jenkins. The first of which would come from Karissa Hoskin for her sixth goal of the season. Morgan McCann and Ariana Bowditch would get the helpers on the opening goal.
The second goal in the match would come from Regan Toltesi, who scored her second goal of the season on Jenkins for a 2-0 lead with the help of Natalie Lamarche.
The Voyageurs would drop the lead after Maggie Peterson and Samantha Spagnol scored goals 1:44 apart on Shanna Dolighan, sending the game into the third period tied 2-2. The Voyageurs were outshooting the Lancers 26-17 through 40 minutes.
Desperate for a regulation win and the full three points, the Voyageurs poured on the pressure in the third and had numerous excellent scoring chances. Despite outshooting the Lancers 17-7 in the final frame, the Voyageurs could not beat Jenkins. Windsor's Morgan Simard took a cross-checking penalty with eighty seconds remaining and the Voyageurs pulled Dolighan for the final 30 seconds in an attempt to score 6-on-4, but they could not capitalize and the game went to overtime.
The Voyageurs started the seven-minute overtime with forty seconds of powerplay time, but could not convert. They dominated the majority of the overtime period and outshot the Lancers 11-3, but Jenkins made several amazing saves. At the other end, Dolighan made some good saves of her own, including a breakaway stop. With both goalies standing tall,
the Lancers and Voyageurs would joust head to head in a shootout. Through 67 minutes, the Voyageurs had recorded a season-high 54 shots on goal, while the Lancers only had 26.
The Lancers elected to shoot first in the shootout, but Amy Maitre was stopped by Dolighan. The Voyageurs sent out Toltesi first, and she beat Jenkins to give the Voyageurs the lead. However, Jessica Gribbon would respond with a nice move to beat Dolighan and tie the shootout. McCann went next, and while she beat Jenkins her shot went off the crossbar and wide. Peterson would then beat Dolighan to give the Lancers the lead. Payton Bray went in trying to extend the shootout, but her shot was stopped by Jenkins, giving the Lancers their second shootout win of the season.
The Voyageurs finished the weekend with four of a possible six points and remain four points out of a playoff spot with five games remaining. They will return home February 1st for a game against the York Lions.
Sam Brooks