Boxscore
Waterloo, Ont. (March 7, 2009) – It took three extra frames, but the Queen's women's hockey season ended on Saturday with a 3-2 triple overtime loss to the No. 2 nationally ranked Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
Laurier sweeps the best-of-three OUA semifinal series 2-0 capturing a 7-0 win on Thursday and claiming today's marathon match. They await the winner from the other semifinal series between Guelph and Brock. That series is tied 1-1.
Melissa John of Unionville, Ont., stopped 57 of 60 shots giving up the final goal six-minutes and 35 seconds into the third overtime when Lauren Barch of Burlington, Ont., netted the game winner. The Golden Hawks were on a two-man advantage.
The ending was eerily similar to last year's OUA semifinal when Barch scored for Laurier with a man advantage in overtime. Laurier also won that series 2-0 with the final win coming on home ice.
Heather Fortuna of Kitchener, Ont., opened the scoring for the Golden Hawks at the 7:54 mark of the first period. Queen's tied the game three minutes later as rookie forward
Kristin Smith of Toronto snipped her first OUA playoff goal.
Queen's captain
Cassandra Sparks of Stouffville, Ont., used the momentum and added a short-handed goal mid-way through the second period to give Queen's a 2-1 lead on just eight shots.
Kingston native Kaley Powers tied the game for Laurier at 7:05 of the third period forcing the overtime marathon.
Overall Queen's were outshot 60-20 in the game, including 27-7 in the three overtime periods.
John finishes the 2008-09 regular season playing just over 1,000 minutes, with a goals against average of 2.71. She faced 564 shots in the regular season and an 113 in the three playoff games.
Becky Conroy of Pembroke, Ont., led Queen's and finished fifth in the OUA for points (14 G, 13A).
Kelsey Thomson of Martintown, Ont., narrowly missed the OUA top-ten in scoring but led the Gaels with 16 goals while adding three helpers.
Queen's ended the regular season with a 13-13-1 record and advanced to the post-season on the final day of regulation play with a 3-2 victory over Western.
They followed with a 4-2 win in the OUA quarter-final over the No. 9 ranked Toronto Varisty Blues to advance to the OUA semfinals for the second straight season.
