KINGSTON, Ont. (February 7, 2019) - The Queen's Gaels (13-8-1-0) scored a late goal off the stick of
Hannah De Coutere to defeat the UOIT Ridgebacks (9-12-1-1) 4-3 on Thursday afternoon in a school day game matchup.
SCHOOL DAY GAME FOR HOCKEY DAY
The game had a special start time of 11:30 am at the Leon's Centre in Kingston for a school day game with local youth from the Kingston area in attendance. The expected crowd of 3,600 was limited due to a snow day in the Kingston region. The game is also part of a bigger hockey day in Kingston as the Carr-Harris Cup will follow Thursday night at 7:30 pm at the Leon's Centre between Queen's and RMC.
GAME FLOW
The Gaels were unable to capitalize on an early power-play but also saw their goaltender
Stephanie Pascal come up big on a few key opportunities for the Ridgebacks.
Late in the frame, Gaels captain
Addi Halladay intercepted a Ridgeback pass across the Gaels blueline and skated in on a breakaway, she fired a rocket shot blocker side on Brooke Vial and scored to give the Gaels a 1-0 lead.
The second period saw a flurry of goals starting with an early power-play marker from Mariah Wilson just 1:35 into the period tying the game at 1-1.
The Gaels responded with a pair of goals, first it was
Julia McDonnell deflecting a point shot past Vial for her first career U SPORTS goal.
Then just 22 seconds later,
Katrina Manoukarakis corralled a loose puck off her skate behind the Ridgebacks net and wrapped the puck around for a quick goal to make it 3-1 Gaels. Nearly five minutes later UOIT made it a one-goal game again as Mia Rogers put the puck past Pascal.
In the third the Ridgebacks power-play went to work again. At 7:17 Marissa Murphy scored for UOIT to tie the game up at 3-3.
Just as the game looked like it was destined for overtime, a clean faceoff win from Manoukarakis went right to
Hannah De Coutere and her shot found its way to the back of the Ridgebacks net at 17:57 of the third.
Pascal turned aside a late charge and the Gaels picked up the win.
BY THE NUMBERS
555 - Of the expected 3,600 school day kids were able to make the game despite the snow day in the Kingston region, the record for a women's hockey game attendance is 1,562
1st - Career goal for the Gaels
Julia McDonnell
2nd - School day game goal for
Addi Halladay, she scored a goal against York at the Leon's Centre as a rookie back in 2014 a game the Gaels won 5-0
3rd - The Gaels current spot in the OUA after the win. They also sit just one point shy of second place
MUST SEE
De Coutere winner.
Pascal break-away save.
Manoukarakis wrap-around.
First U SPORTS goal for McDonnell.
Halladay opening goal.
FINAL SAY
"It was definitely big to get all three points and not have to go into overtime where we would settle for two or one. So it was good to get those three especially as we are battling for home ice in the playoffs." -
Stephanie Pascal.
UP NEXT
The Gaels are back in action on Friday night when they travel to take on the York Lions in Toronto. Puck drop is set for 7:00 pm and the game can be seen live on OUA.tv.
