Tommies Fall 4-3 to Huskies in Double OT

The St. Thomas University Tommies fell 4-3 to the Saint Mary's University Huskies in double overtime Friday night at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

With the win, the Huskies improve to 17-2-3 and clinch first place in the conference standings. The Tommies drop to 16-4-2.

"This was a playoff-type game and it's going to be one of those games where you just find a way," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said after the game.

"It's not 'oh well if we do this tonight we're going to score every time.' This isn't a team you're going to be able to do that against. You need to take advantage of every chance you get."

The Tommies took advantage of the first chance they got, scoring just 20 seconds into the game when Lauren Henman potted her fourteenth goal of the season off a nice feed from Emily Oleksuk.

The lead was short lived though as the Huskies responded at 10:49 with a power play goal from Laura Polak to even the score, 1-1.

The Huskies took their first lead of the game 5:04 into the second off a goal from Breanna Lanceleve, who scored in tight on Tommies netminder Taylor Cook.

Back to back penalties gave the Huskies a two-player advantage midway through the frame, but a strong penalty kill by the Tommies kept the visitors off the board.

The Huskies eventually struck again when Caitlyn Manning stepped in and buried a shot from the slot for a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Despite falling behind in the second, Murphy wasn't concerned with the Tommies play in the period.

"We said going into the third, we're getting good looks so don't change too much. If you aren't getting any opportunities that's when you start changing what you're doing."

Early in the third period, Henman netted her second of the game off a great individual effort to cut the Tommies deficit to 3-2.

A late penalty from the Huskies proved costly as Lauren Legault found the puck loose out front and sent it to the back of the net to tie the game 3-3, forcing overtime.

The Tommies had a powerplay early in the extra frame, but the Huskies kept them off the score sheet. In the dying seconds, the Huskies had two golden opportunities but Cook stood tall between the pipes.

Midway through the second overtime, Lanceleve found herself all alone in front and tucked the puck past Cook to give the Huskies the 4-3 win.

Rebecca Clarke had a stellar night in goal for the Huskies, turning away 33 shots.  Cook made 26 saves for the Tommies.

The Tommies are back in action Friday, February 10 when they host the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleues in their final home game of the season. The Huskies resume play February 4 when they visit the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers.