With the season on the line on Sunday afternoon, the Bishop's Gaiters women's hockey team faced the Ottawa Gee-Gees for the third time in four days, both teams needing a win to extend the season.
After dropping the Gee-Gees 4-0 in Ottawa on Thursday night, the Gaiters fell to Ottawa by an identical scoreline yesterday in Lennoxville. With the series all tied up, everything would come down to Sunday's game.
Scoring an impressive three goals in the second frame, the Gaiters came out on top – earning a hard fought 3-2 victory and a spot in the RSEQ Bronze Medal Semi-Final.
Both teams started the game cautiously but the Gaiters found their momentum a few minutes into the opening period and fired 12 shots at the Gee-Gees' net. Despite the early effort, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes of play.
Following the break, Bishop's continued to push the tempo and was rewarded, getting on the scoreboard four minutes into the second stanza.
Jessica Bélanger (Sherbrooke, Que., Champlain-Lennoxville) worked the puck along the boards and out to
Jamie Aspropotamitis (Richmond, Ont., Sacred Heart H.S.) who made no mistake and fired it past the Gee-Gees' netminder.
Bélanger and
Angélique Pagé (Ottawa, Ont., Laurentian Voyageurs) picked up the assists on the goal.
Less than a minute later, a bouncing puck from a face-off in the Ottawa zone found the stick of
Neleh Vigneau Sargeant (Dartmouth, N.S., Lockview H.S.) who doubled the Gaiters' lead.
The goal was assisted by
Noémie Thibault (Sherbrooke, Que., Champlain-Lennoxville) and
Maude Pépin (Pont-Rouge, Que., Cegep Limoilou).
Later in the period, Vigneau Sargeant knocked in her second goal of the game and fourth of the playoffs on the power play to make the score 3-0 with just under 5 minutes to go in the period.
Majorie Bolduc (Saint-Ephrem-de-Beauce, Que., Champlain-Lennoxville) and Maude Pépin recorded the helpers.
The Gee-Gees did get on the board in the closing seconds of the period on a man-up advantage to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes.
After a scoring frenzy in the second, Ottawa scored the lone goal of the third period, in the closing minutes of the game, to make it 3-2.
Despite the Gee-Gees' late push, after 60 minutes, it was the Gaiters that came away with a 3-2 win and a berth in the final series of the post-season.
Charley Wing (Huntsville, Ont., Mother Teresa C.S.S.) finished with 19 saves for the win on Sunday while Bishop's fired 31 shots of their own at the Ottawa net.
Neleh Vigneau Sargeant (Dartmouth, N.S./Lockview H.S.) was named the 1st Star of the Game for her performance while
Maude Pépin (Pont-Rouge, Que., Cegep Limoilou) received 3rd Star honours for her two assists. Alice Fillion,was named the 2nd Star of the Game for the Gee-Gees.
The Gaiters celebrate a 2-1 series win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees.
Next Up
The Gaiters will now compete in the RSEQ Bronze Medal Series against the Montreal Carabins. Bishop's will travel to Montreal for Game #1 before returning to Jane & Eric Molson Arena for the final time this season for the second game of the series. Schedule details coming soon.
Stay tuned to www.gaiters.ca and #GaiterNation or @BishopsGaiters on social media to follow the Gaiters.
