First Televised Reg. Season Game For CWHL A Success! Thunder Win 3-0.
CWHL
As part of the You Can Play initiative, the CWHL and You Can Play hosted two games on January 2nd 2016, including a cross-town battle between the Brampton Thunder and The Toronto Furies. This game, which was broadcast across Canada on Sportsnet, became the first ever regular season televised game for the CWHL. In a year full of progress in 2015, this is a great start to the 2016-year as the league continues to promote the game of hockey.
How It Happened…
Going into the second half of the season both the Thunder and Furies are currently in the Clarkson Cup Playoffs trailing Montreal and Calgary. With a win today 2nd place would be up for grabs. The Furies placed Christina Kessler in net, coming off two great games against the Boston Blades, Kessler allowed one goal in the series against the Blades. Brampton started Erica Howe in net and she was phenomenal throughout. To start the first Natalie Spooner of the Furies went it through the slot and Howe would stick away a great chance by the Toronto forward. The first would end scoreless; the Thunder outshot the Furies 8-7 but could not convert on the four penalties by Toronto going 0-4 in the period.
The second period saw a plethora of scoring chances by both teams but none of which would light the lamp. Both teams came into the matchup leading the CWHL in penalty minutes, after six penalties in the first; neither side could score on the power play. In the second the same continued, the Thunder went 0-3 on the PP, Candice Styles and Jess Jones would continue to pepper shots on net but the Furies defense held firm and would counter with chances of their own. The Furies missing Kelly Terry and leading scorer Jamie Lee Rattray looked fatigued going into the final period, but the score remained 0-0.
Quickly in the third, the Thunder won the faceoff and took it into the attacking zone. Toronto struggled to keep pace with Brampton, which wasn’t the case when they visited the Blades a few weeks ago. Toronto was short handed and it began to show in the period. Rebbeca Vint scored the first goal of the game on a deflected shot by Laura McIntosh 3:22 into the 3rd frame. Following the goal a “Fury” of shots came from Toronto! They would outshoot Brampton in the period but struggled to get one past Howe. Howe posted her second shut out of the season keeping the Furies off the scoreboard in this one. Brampton would get two goals late one by Jess Jones, a highlight goal, as she went back hander in traffic to sneak it past Kessler. Then Ellie Seedhouse would score an empty net goal to end the game for the Thunder 3-0 the Final in Toronto.
This was a historic moment for the CWHL and what a wonderful showcase by the broadcast team at Sportnet Canada. They interviewed a bunch of people who were involved in the growth of women’s hockey and the CWHL. The information and promotion of the league was exactly what was needed after an event like the women’s winter classic. Game two will continue the rivalry theme as the Les Candiennes de Montreal take on the Boston Blades. Catch that game live on CWHL.ca.
You can follow Luis Sanchez on Twitter: @Luis_MyW
