Henman Helps Tommies Tame Huskies 3-1

--- Sean Crocker, BA '19 ---

Fredericton, NB - The St. Thomas University Tommies downed the Saint's Mary's University Huskies 3-1 in Atlantic University Sport women's hockey action Saturday afternoon at the Grant Harvey Centre.

The win for the Tommies marked their eleventh consecutive regular season win, improving to 15-2 on the season.

"Just having good habits and a good process to get wins," said Tommies head coach Peter Murphy on his team's recent success. "It's an overall mindset, where you work hard and you get results."

The Tommies jumped out to an early lead when Lauren Henman (Cow Bay, NS) busted down the wing where she found the twine to give the streaking Tommies a 1-0 lead.

The Tommies kept on rolling when Lauren Legault (Winnipeg, MB) found the loose puck behind Huskies' goalie, Rebecca Clark (Keswick, ON), and she shot the puck home to give the Tommies a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

Clark supported the third best goals against average in AUS heading into the match with a 1.60 GAA.

"The longer she [Clark] goes without allowing a goal, the harder it is," said Murphy. "We were pleased to get the first one, and we were pleased with how we put pucks on her today."

Henman continued her dominance on the afternoon, scoring just four minutes into the second period, extending the lead to 3-0.

The goal for Henman marked her thirteenth of the season, which is good for first among AUS goal scorers.

"Henman has a knack for putting the puck in the net," said Murphy. "When she shoots, the goalie's going to have to make a save, as she's always had more goals than assists."

The Huskies got on the board with 28 seconds remaining in the second period, when Taylor Keeping (Hackett's Cove, NS) wired the shot past Abby Clarke (Springdale, NL), narrowing the lead down to 3-1.

The third period was all Huskies, in search of the equalizer, but to no avail as Clarke stopped 31 of the 32 shots she faced on the day, improving on her league leading 1.13 goals against average.

"They had some powerplay time where they got a few more shots than we would have liked," said Murphy. "We were pleased with how we played in front of Abby, but she made some big stops when called upon."

The Tommies are back in action Wednesday evening when the University of New Brunswick Reds visit the Grant Harvey Centre for the fourth installment of the renewed rivalry at 7pm. The Huskies will host the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers on Thursday with puck drop set for 6:30pm.