X-Women headed to National Final
/U Sports Nationals give X-Women Hockey a chance for Redemption
The X-Women hockey team gave us nothing short of a sensational season of excellent hockey. Garnering an overall season record of 20 wins and only 4 losses, the women consistently made it onto the U Sports Top 10, and ended the season at the top of the AUS standings. Saint Mary’s University team shared the same amount of wins, with goals for and against deciding the seating for playoffs.
3 of the AUS’ top scorers of the season came from StFX. Fifth year Daley Oddy had the most goals in the league with 16 points and 15 assists, with fourth year Sarah Bujold and first year Emerson Elliott following with 13 goals, 14 assists and 11 goals, 15 assists respectively. Carley Molnar in net also had a huge hand in this year’s success, with 292 saves over the span of the season.
Bujold can be thanked for scoring the game winning goal in the suspenseful AUS semi-final against the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues. The second game of the best-of-3 semi-final, held in Moncton, saw an early goal by Moncton on a power play. This was quickly answered back by a goal by fourth year Nicole Halladay a few minutes later. The score was still tied 1-1 at the conclusion of the third period, and went into overtime. 44 seconds into overtime, Bujold scored, clinching a spot in the AUS final against the St. Mary’s Huskies, and also in the U Sports National Championship.
The AUS finals began at home in the Keating Memorial Centre on Friday, March 2. The X-Women fell short 4-2 with both goals scored by second year Kate Gotaas. While at St. Mary’s for Game 2, the X-Women won with a 2-1 victory (goals by second year Santana Gravelle and Bujold). Despite valiant efforts, hard work and excellent skill, our X-Women lost the series-deciding game for the AUS final in a 1-0 loss on March 6 at StFX.
Thankfully, hockey isn’t over just yet for these women. The AUS will be able to send both Saint Mary’s and StFX’s Women’s hockey teams to represent the conference at the U SPORTS National Championship. There, the teams will be competing among eight of the best in the country. Nationals are scheduled to take place March 15 to 18 and are being hosted by Western University in London, ON. The games can be accessed online and will be live streamed on U SPORTS TV.
