CWHL Weekend Wrap Up: Furies Sweep Blades, Brampton Earns Split v. Montreal
Toronto sweeps Boston in two game series (@TorontoCWHL/Twitter)
Toronto Furies v. Boston Blades
Game 1: 3-1 Furies
Game 2: 5-1 Furies
As we approach the CWHL All-Star weekend the playoff picture is still not clear in the race for the Clarkson Cup. Boston still has a chance but given the disparity in points, most likely will be on the outside looking in. This weekends matchup against the fourth place, Toronto Furies showed that the Blades are still a few pieces away from competing again for a championship.
The rest of the playoff picture breaks down into two races, the top seed between Calgary and Montreal and the right to play either of those these with Brampton and Toronto filling in the top four.
Toronto looking to avoid playing the number one seed made up some ground on Brampton, who played Montreal this weekend, with a pair of wins against the Blades. Toronto got some great goaltending play from Christina Kessler who made 21 saves on 22 shots. Jenna Dingeldein scored in the first and Natalie Spooner added her 12th goal of the year in the second to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Boston’s Melissa Bizzari got the Blades on the scoreboard in the third but Kessler shut the door from there on. Tanis Lamoureux added an empty net goal late in the third for the 3-1 final.
In game two, Boston got an early break with the Furies taking a too many women on the ice penalty giving the Blades a power play. Dakota Woodworth took no time in getting Boston on the scoreboard just 51 seconds into the first period. Boston held on to the lead until Dingeldein scored her second of the series and fourth on the year. Less than a minute later, Spooner also added her second of the series and her 13th on the season. Renata Fast and Jenelle Kohanchuk added second period scores and just like that the Furies led 4-1. Fast added a late third period goal to give the Furies a series sweep with the 5-1 win.
Thunder earn weekend split with game two win (@BramptonCWHL/Twitter)
Montreal Les Canadiennes v. Brampton Thunder
Game 1: 5-1 Les Canadiennes
Game 2: 4-2 Thunder
Trying to keep pace with the surging Calgary Inferno, Montreal found itself in a position to make up some ground on the idle defending champions. In game one, Les Canadiennes took it to the Brampton Thunder and goaltender, Liz Knox. The high-powered offense scored four first period goals sending Knox to the bench following the first intermission.
Four minutes into the first, Marie-Philip Poulin got a nice assist from Leslie Oles and found the back of the net to give Les Canadiennes a 1-0 lead. After 10 minutes of back and forth play, Cathy Chartrand doubled the Montreal lead to 2-0 with her second goal of the season. League leader in goals, Ann-Sophie Bettez picked up her 14th goal to put Montreal ahead 3-0. Laura Fortino did her best to try and get the rally going scoring with less than two minutes left in the first but Sarah Lefort canceled out that score with eight seconds left in the first. Caroline Ouellette added her 150th career goal tying her for the most all time in CWHL history to make it 5-1.
In game two, Erica Howe got the start for the Thunder after coming in relief of Knox and just allowing one goal, she rode that momentum into game two. Montreal struck first when Lefort scored her seventh goal of the year with five minutes remaining in the first. Rebecca Vint and Shannon MacAulay scored two minutes apart and gave Brampton a 2-1 second period lead. Bettez, who has been unstoppable this year evened the game at two with a late second period score.
Brampton put the game away in the third, outplaying Montreal up and down the ice. Laura Fortino scored the game-winning goal and Laura Stacey added an empty netter to lift the Thunder to a 4-2 win. Howe made 22 stops in net and five crucial ones in the third.
