Tommies Double Up Aigles Bleues 6-3

The St. Thomas University Tommies doubled up the Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleues 6-3 in AUS women's hockey action Friday night at the Grant Harvey Centre.  

The Tommies broke the deadlock first when Lauren Henman (Cow Bay, NS) continued her hot streak when she netted her 19th marker of the season, making the score 1-0 for the Tommies. 

The attack did not stop there, when Alex Woods (Courtice, ON) beat the buzzer with a lofted shot that beat the glove hand of Audrey Berthiaume (St-Bruno, QC) to give the Tommies a 2-0 lead after the first. 

"We might try different things to prepare for the playoffs," said Tommies head coach Peter Murphy. "We're just trying to focus on playing the right way to prepare for playoff hockey." 

The Aigles Bleues cut the lead in half at the beginning of the second period when Maelle Rioux (Quebec, QC) picked the top corner on the short side of Abby Clarke (Springdale, NL), giving the Aigles Bleues new life.  

The Tommies did not waiver, when Florence Awde (Mount Albert, ON) powered her way into the Aigles Bleues zone where she found the twine to restore the two-goal lead for the Tommies. 

"The girls continued to battle hard," said Murphy. "They had more jump and we wanted to make sure we were better tonight." 

The win marked the end of a two-game losing skid, dating back to last weekend, and dropping three of their last four games. 

"We've gotten a couple weeks of good practice," said Murphy. "We beat St. FX and lost in overtime to Saint Mary's recently. We and the girls are confident."  

The Aigles Bleues did not let the Tommies away with an easy win, when Katherine Dubuc (Victoriaville, QC) buried home the rebound on the powerplay, bringing her squad within one goal, 3-2 for the Tommies. 

The Tommies responded almost immediately with Woods ripping a wrist shot over the shoulder of Berthiaume to restore the two-goal lead for the Tommies. 

The ensuing momentum continued for the Tommies on the powerplay, courtesy of Leah Galati's (Mississauga, ON) cannon of a shot, giving a commanding 5-2 lead for the home team.  

AUS scoring leader, Katryne Villeneuve (Casselman, ON) brought the score within two when she buried the puck past Clarke, continuing the carousel of goals in the third period. 

The Tommies were not to be denied on this day when Woods found the net on a mad scramble for her fifth point of the night to give the Tommies a 6-3 lead. 

"Woods has done a tremendous job on building off a great rookie year," said Murphy. "We have a lot of offensive weapons, so she's generating a lot of offence and she's a tremendous force." 

The Tommies will look to build off this win when they play host to the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers Saturday evening at the Grant Harvey Centre for 7:00pm. UdeM will be in Halifax on Sunday to face the Dalhousie Tigers at 12:30pm.