CWHL Weekend Wrap Up: Rivalry Heats Up in Brampton, Montreal Earns Sweep
Liz Knox and Brampton earn split with Toronto Furies (Teri Di-Lauro/@FotoSharkz/Twitter)
Brampton def. Toronto 4-2
Toronto def. Brampton 4-1
BRAMPTON – When two rivals clash, you never know what to expect, throw records out the window because it comes down to the time on the ice. This weekend the Brampton Thunder welcomed in the Toronto Furies and it was everything a rivalry should be.
In game one, the Thunder got on the board first when Laura Stacey scored her fourth goal of the season midway through the first period to give Brampton the lead. The Thunders offense came ready to play firing nine shots on Toronto’s goaltender, Christina Kessler.
In the second period, Brampton continued to dominate puck possession and doubled their lead six minutes into the frame. Sarah Edney got a nice assist from Jocelyne Larocque on the power play to make it 2-0 in favor of the home team. A few minutes later, Kelly Terry got Toronto back into the contest with her fourth goal of the season to make it 2-1. After some back and forth in the period, Brampton again found themselves ahead by two when Becca King notched her first goal of the season. The Thunder outshot the Furies 16-8 in the frame and held a 3-1 lead going into the third.
Toronto started the third eager to find the back of the net and fired shots on Liz Knox. The Thunder goaltender kept the lead Furies from finding the back of the net until Natalie Spooner broke through and brought the Furies within one with her fifth goal of the season.
Things got a little chippy late in the third when Jenelle Kohanchuk of Toronto and Jess Jones of Brampton were given matching roughing penalties. Needing the equalizer, the Furies pulled Kessler from net only to have Laura Stacey find the back of the empty net for her second goal of the game.
Following a stoppage with 10 seconds left, some pushing and shoving ensued resulting in Courtney Birchard of Brampton and Michela Cava of Toronto going to the penalty box. At the end of the game, with Brampton winning 4-2, players again got into it resulting in 10 penalties two of which were game misconducts. Liz Knox and Michelle Saunders were issued the misconducts and were suspended for game two of the series on Sunday.
In game two, it was Toronto getting off to a rapid start with Kelly Terry skating in with the puck and scoring unassisted just 24 seconds into the game. Brampton played a much better first period, although being outshot 9-8; the Thunder put a lot of pressure on Sonja van der Bliek of the Furies.
The physicality of game one definitely carried over to game two and in the second period tempers boiled over. Jess Jones scored her sixth goal of the season to even the game at one seven minutes into the second period. Shortly after Renata Fast of the Furies was given a 10-minute misconduct for head contact resulting in a Brampton penalty. The Thunder had a few quality scoring chances but were then given two roughing penalties in less than 30 seconds giving the Furies a power play. Natalie Spooner made the Thunder pay with her sixth goal of the season to get the Furies back ahead. Late in the period, Laura Fortino was given a five minute major for kicking.
After a back and forth 15 minutes in the third, Spooner found the back of the net again to double the lead for the Furies. Minus a Danielle Gagne tripping penalty the third was a fairly clean period. Carolyne Prevost found the back of an empty net to solidify the 4-1 victory for the Furies.
Caroline Ouellette is on the verge of historic milestone (@LesCanadiennes/Twitter)
Montreal 5-0
Montreal 10-0
BOSTON – The Blades may not have it all figured out just yet, but you have to love the passion they play the game with. Boston is by far the youngest team in the league not only in age but in skill as well. When you look around the CWHL most teams have that one go to athlete that can change a game. The Blades have yet to find that player or players to lead the team on the ice.
In two series against Les Canadiennes this season the Blades are 0-4-0 and have been outscored 32-2 in those four games. Boston has also struggled against another top team in the league, having lost all four games to the Calgary Inferno by a combined score of 28-6.
This weekend the Blades welcomed in Montreal for two games and looked to pick up a point against one of the top teams in the league. However, Montreal had different plans. Les Canadiennes, having dropped two to Toronto their last time out were looking to get back in the win column and in a big way.
In game one the Blades made things a bit difficult for the high-powered offense of Les Canadiennes. The first few minutes saw Boston stop quality chances on Lauren Dahm and turn them into counter opportunities on the opposite end of the ice. In a span of 49 seconds, Cassandra Poudrier scored her first goal of the season and Ann-Sophie Bettez doubled the lead to give Montreal a 2-0 lead. Although being outshot 9-8 and down 2-0 the Blades can ready to play in the second period.
Boston buckled down and forced Montreal to take shots from outside the slot. In the second the Blades played a lot more defense than offense but were able to keep Les Canadiennes from scoring. Boston could not find the back of the net with Charline Labonte making 13 saves through two periods.
In the third Montreal broke it open with goals by Poudrier, Caroline Ouellette and Bettez all scoring in the frame. Les Canadiennes outshot the Blades 32-19 in the game and took game one by a score of 5-0.
In game two, Les Canadiennes knew they left some goals out on the ice Saturday night and made up for it on Sunday afternoon. Karell Emard started the scoring 1:23 into the first period with her third goal of the season. Then it became the Caroline Ouellette show!
Ouellette scored back to back goals in the first to give Montreal a 3-0 lead before Sarah Lefort made it 4-0 to close out the period. Montreal continued its dominance of the Blades scoring three in the period, Ouellette scored on the power play with seven seconds left in the frame to get the hat trick. In the third Les Canadiennes would add three more with Emard notching a hat trick of her own and Ouellette moving to 299 career points. Already a CWHL high, Ouellette has a chance to become the first player in the league to reach 300 career points this weekend against Calgary at the Bell Centre.
Boston will play Toronto for the second season this weekend.
