Men's and Women's updates, AUS officating

I haven't done an update for almost two months, where does the time go?

The first half of the AUS season is almost complete for both the men's and women's hockey squads and there are lots of little Tombits to share.  Where to begin?

Let's start with the Ladies.  With three games left to play in 2014 the Tommies are in good shape heading towards the Christmas break sitting in 3rd place.  They have two games left against Mount Alison and one left against Dalhousie.  Today's matinee against Mount Alison starts at 2PM at the GHC.

Rookie Becky Connor leads the team in points (11) and plus/minus (+7) followed closely by Teah Anderson (10 pts, +1) and rookie Lauren Henman (10 Pts, -1).  In net the rookie tandem of Abby Clarke and Taylor Cook have been adjusting to the shooters of the AUS with Clarke having the better GAA and save percentage (.917 & 2.51) than Cook (.882 & 4.02).  For the most part the goalies have been alternating starts but if one of the freshman begins to steal a few games, they very well might find themselves as the number one heading to playoffs.

With the reemergence of Moncton this year as one of the top two teams in the AUS, the Tommies will have to find a way to beat them and X if they want to get back to Nationals.  In four games this season STU is winless against St-FX and UdeM.  Granted they had two tight matches against the X-Women losing  4 to 3 both times - including a tough last minute comeback - but the Tommies have to figure out a way to win these games if they want to go far in the post season.  TEAM STATS

Everybody is probably waiting for some prolonged rant about the men's 1 win and 13 loss record.  Well you better stop reading now because it isn't going to happen.  Regardless of their record, the men's team, under the leadership of Pat Powers, is setting itself up for better things to come.  I'm not going to preach patience to anyone but I will preach understanding.

The train wreck that was Tommies hockey in years gone bye needed to be dismantled one piece at a time or one section at a time.  Pat took out whole sections of the train and replaced them.  It would be nice if the new parts ran perfectly when you hooked them up but it didn't happen that way and that's fine.  When the pieces start to fall into place, they gain some experience, and maybe a few breaks go their way, things will come around.  The understanding part is that we have some really good players and who knows, the addition of one piece could change our fortunes dramatically.

When looking at the AUS stats everyone sees the elephant in the room. Our goals against are killing us.  We match up well against every team in the league when it comes to offence but fall flat on our asses when it comes to defence. Maybe its the goalies or maybe its the D in front of them, who knows, but until something happens to change it, you are not going to beat UNB, Acadia, or SMU when you allow eight, nine, or ten goals per game.

The Tommies are going to be getting more help up front after Christmas with the additions of Zach Hall and Shane McColgan to the line up.  Do I think this helps our defence?  Sure it does, if the puck is 150 feet away from our zone it is hard to score on us and both McColgan and Hall add elite level AUS skill to our roster.  TEAM STATS

I did say above that you might be looking for a rant.  Here is a small one.  If you are a Fredericton AUS fan - I don't care if you cheer for the Tommies or the Squirrels - we have been watching some BRUTAL officiating at the AUC and GHC.  Is the AUS completely and utterly blind because I think the refs they hire bloody well are.  What exactly do you expect from a referee that was fired/banned/not allowed to officiate at QMJHL games but is still doing higher level AUS games? And please don't think I am using this as an excuse for the Tommies poor showing this year, I am not.  Head right over to UNB and ask their fans what they think of the officiating and they will echo our thoughts and they are at the top of the standings. While it may be cliche to say it is "a joke" the fact is that the joke is on the players and fans that watch the games and either cringe or laugh due to the officials.  Somebody at the league level should do something about it here in Fredericton.

Feel free to comment on the officiating below.  It won't hurt my feelings any.

Tombits

The Friends of STU Hockey released their Newsletter last week and if you would like to read it or past issues, please follow the following link, Friends of STU Hockey or click on the Friends tab above.

Weekend scores - The men's team played their second and final home exhibition game over the weekend and topped the Nippissing University Lakers 5 to 2.  Pat Power's new recruits accounted for all the goals including two from Andrew Fritsch and singles from J.C. Campagna, Matt MacLeod, and Rankyn Campbell.  Luke Lee-Knight and Tyler Piercy split the goaltending duties for the win.  Here is the box score.

In women's action the Lady Tommies were defeated on Saturday night by the SMU Huskies 3 - 2.  Kelty Apperson was the only goal scorer that we know of.  Before you send me hate messages for not having enough women's hockey news, please remember that I will go out of my way to get whatever I can but sometimes information is limited.

This weekend -  Both men's and women's hockey teams will be heading to the Belle Province for Exhibition games.

The Lady Tommies will play Universite de Montreal on Friday night, Cegep St-Laurent on Saturday evening, and finish up on Sunday afternoon versus Concordia University.

The Men will play a double header against McGill on Friday and Saturday before ending their road trip on Sunday in Trois Rivieres against UQTR.

STUTommies.com message -  As many of you have probably noticed the website hasn't been updated for several months.  The truth is that maintaining the website is time consuming and is a labour of love that I am not willing to sacrifice for any longer.  I think that 9 years was a pretty good run.  That being said, I will continue to bring you updates from time to time and perhaps the odd alumni update.

I will try to remain current on Twitter @STUTommies   but Facebook will not be updated.

Until next time....GO TOMMIES GO!!!

2013 - 2014 St. Thomas Hockey awards

Congratulations to all the individual award winners below and special congratulations to the Women's hockey team for being named the Leroy Washburn Community Service Award winners.

Women’s Hockey
Rookie: Myfanwy Thomson
Top Defensive Player: Caley Steinert
Most Improved: Laura Bray
MVP: Kristin Wolfe

Men’s Hockey 
Rookie: Matt Bissonnette
Unsung Hero - Eric Couturier Award: Jonathan Bonneau
Most Sportsmanlike - Sister Helen Legere Trophy: Steve Sanza
Top Defenceman - Lou Chabot Trophy: Marc-Andre Levesque
MVP - Don Connelly Trophy: Jon Groenheyde & Randy Cameron*

* This is only the second time in 53 years that the Don Connolly Trophy has been shared.

McGill Martlets, CIS Women's Hockey Champs!

Game winning goal scorer, Brittney Fouracres

Congrats go out to the CIS National Women's Hockey Champs, the McGill Martlets. Both teams, McGill and Montreal played extremely well in the gold medal game.

Both teams scored in the first period, McGill narrowly edged the Carabins in shots on goal 7-6. In the second period McGill was the only team to score, taking a 2-1 lead, McGill had lots more pressure on the Carabins goaltender, Elodie Rousseau-Sirois, with shots on goal 11-4.

The third period is when the scoring opened up though, first with McGill taking a 3-1 lead midway through the period. Not to be outdone though, Montreal started their comeback. The Carabins scored under a minute later to make it a 3-2 game. With 3:13 remaining on the time clock Montreal was able to get the tying goal, making it whole new hockey game. This was the first period in which Montreal lead the shots on goal 11-7.

The first sudden death overtime decided nothing. The four on four overtime was fast and exciting though with lots of close chances. McGill doubled the Carabins shots on goal 6-3 in the 10 minute frame. The second overtime was incredibly short, Montreal took a penalty late in the first overtime giving the Martlets a 4-3 opportunity at the beginning of the second overtime. It only took 0:37 to score the season ending goal. D-lady Brittney Fouracres had the final shot on goal for the season and it was worth all the marbles.

Saskatchewan Huskies take Bronze Medal

In game number 8 of the CIS Women's Hockey Championships hosted by St. Thomas University, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies scored five powerplay goals en-route to a 6 to 3 win over the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks.

U of Sask. defencewoman Julia Flinton scored a hat trick to pace the Huskies to their first CIS medal in school history.  The score was tied after the first period at 1's, U of Sask held a 3 to 2 advantage after two, and pulled away in the third with three goals including an empty net tally.

Goaltender Amanda Smith of WLU faced 27 shots, while the Huskies' Cassidy Hendricks stopped 39 of 42 Golden Hawks shots. BOX SCORE

Congratulations to the University of Saskatchewan.

Tonight's Gold Medal match up between the University of Montreal Carabins and the McGill University Marlets stands to be a dandy tilt.  These two teams HATE each other and that word probably doesn't do this rivalry justice.  It will be the ninth meeting of season this evening, both teams with 4 wins each.  Number Nine will be for a National Championship.

Come one, come all to the Grant-Harvey Centre tonight at 6:30 PM ADT for what should be a classic.

The 2013-14 Tommies Season Has Come to an End

Teah Anderson (Burns, Apperson), game tying goal.

The lady Tommies faced off against the UdeM Aigles Bleues this morning at 10am to play the 5th place game. Although beat from playing the last two nights against Saskatchewan and Montreal. They gave the Tommies faithful one heck of a great game!

The Tommies pressured the Aigles Bleues right till the very end of the game, you could certainly see it in the shot count. St. Thomas lead the shots on goal for a total of 28-21. Unfortunately Moncton led in the score column, as they beat the Tommies 2-1 in regulation.

Moncton opened the scoring in the first period when they managed to get one past Tommies keeper Kristin Wolfe three quarters of the way through the opening frame, the shots on goal for both teams were nine a piece.

The second period remained scoreless till Teah Anderson (Burns, Apperson) found the back of the net at the 18:19 mark. The Tommies kept putting shots on goal and trying to solve UdeM's Gabrielle Forget, St. Thomas led the shots on goal 10-4.

The third period did not disappoint as the Tommies came out flying trying to get that all important go ahead goal bit to no avail. Moncton scored at 9:36. St. Thomas pulled goaltender Kristin Wolfe with 37 seconds left on the game clock but even with the extra attacker were not able to get the tying goal. The Tommies still came out on top of the shots on goal 9-8.

Congratulations to captain Katie Brewster, Amanda Burns, Kristin Wolfe and Jordan Miller as they go off to graduate in April. You ladies left it all on the ice and the Tommies fans thank-you for all your hard work and dedication.

This afternoon the Laurier Golden Hawks and Saskatchewan Huskies are going to play-off for the bronze medal at 2pm. Good luck to both teams.

Number 1 Carabins defeat Tommies

Tommies captain, Katie Brewster gets stopped on the re-direct.

No, our Tommies didn't pull off an upset of the best team in the country tonight at the Grant-Harvey Centre but they never stopped trying, not even for a second.  The Carabins scored one goal in each of the first two periods and two more in the third to defeat St. Thomas 4 to 0.

Kristin Wolfe and the entire Tommies team played with a ton of heart and skated with top ranked Montreal the entire game.  It may be cliche but teams need to learn how to win and playing "big" in games versus championship calibre competition is what it takes to get there.  BOX SCORE

We really can't say enough about our Tommies Fans tonight either.  They were the 7th player on the ice and you could really see the players respond to the loud cheers they received for making great plays.  Way to go!! 

Let's keep it up for one more game as our Tommies will play tomorrow morning at 10 AM versus our old provincial rival the U de M Aigles Bleues in the Consolation final.

Also good luck to our Lady Tommies basketball team competing for Gold at the CCAA Nationals.  Go Tommies Go.

McGill unloads on Moncton

The McGill Martlets, prior to puck drop in game 5.

In game 5 of the CIS Women's Hockey Nationals hosted by St. Thomas University, the U de M Aigles Bleues scored the first and last goals but the McGill Marlets sandwiched all of their goals in-between and rolled to an impressive 8 to 2 victory.

Gabrielle Davidson led the way for the Marlets scoring 2 goals and 2 assists while net-minder Taylor Hough stayed focused, facing only 13 shots.  McGill dominated most of the game and chased U de M starting goaltender Gabrielle Forget in the first period after she gave up 4 goals.  Backup Emilie Bouchard came in and after she allowed the next 4 goals in 30 minutes of ice, was replaced by Forget, who ended the game in net for Les Aigles.  BOX SCORE

Tonight the #1 Montreal Carabins take on our St. Thomas Tommies in game 6.  If you read this in time come out to be the 7th man on the ice for our Tommies.  Game time is 7PM.

Saskatchewan Wins a Close One

Celebration after Jenna Scott's Unassisted Goal

 The Lady Tommies played their opening game of the CIS Women's Hockey Championships on Friday night at the Grant Harvey Centre in front of a sold out crowd of 1522 fans. The fans were treated to a great effort put forth by both teams.

There was no scoring in the first period however the Tommies had lots of pressure on the Huskies goaltender. The Tommies had 11 shots on goal to Saskatchewan's 5.

It was almost to the midway mark before the scoreless streak was broken for both teams, when the Huskies put the first goal on the board, not to be outdone the Tommies came right back less than a minute later and put one in for themselves off the stick of Emily Ryan (Steinert, McTaggart) to tie the game up. This was the first goal of the season for Ryan and it couldn't have come at a better time. The Tommies kept the pressure on the Huskies goaltender leading the shots on goal again by the end of the frame, 11-10.

The Huskies came out in the third period though re-energized and ready to go keeping the Tommies in their own end. Saskatchewan scored two goals back to back a little over a minute apart, this did not hold the Tommies back though as Jenna Scott (Unassisted) scored with 15 seconds left in the game, the Tommies had a few close calls on the Huskies goaltender but were unable to find the back of the net. This was the first period where Saskatchewan lead the shots on goal 11-10.

The Huskies won the game 3-2. All fans stayed on-hand and at the edge of their seat right to the very end. Cassidy Hendricks of Saskatchewan stopped 30 of 32 shots, while Kristin Wolfe turned away 23 of the 26 shots.

Tomorrow afternoon at 2pm UdeM will face-off against the McGill Martlets while the Tommies are back in action at 7pm when they play the number one ranked Montreal Carabins. Come early if you want a seat as they will fill up quickly and don't leave your noise makers at home.

Let's cheer the Green and Gold onto victory!

Golden Hawks Win Big

The Laurier Golden Hawks had a big game against the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues. Laurier scored within a minute of the first period and never looked back from that point on, adding five more goals after that, to make it a 6-0 win.

Amanda Smith from Laurier was tough to solve, turning away all of Moncton's 22 shots on goal for the shut out. UdeM's goaltender Gabrielle Forget hung in there as she stopped 32 of 38 shots. There were two shots in the first and second period where the puck went the entire length of the goal line but never crossed into the net. 

UdeM will face McGill tomorrow afternoon at 2pm for game# 5 of the Scotiabank CIS Women's Hockey Championships. 

Tonight the STU Tommies will face-off against the Saskatchewan Huskies for a 7pm start At the Grant Harvey Centre. Come on out and make lots and show your Tommie Pride!!

Carabins too much for Huskies

Carabins goaltender, Elodie Rousseau Sirios was
the Player of the Game for Montreal stopping
24 shots for a shut out.

Game two of the CIS Women's Hockey Championship was very similar to game 1, the RSEQ team was too much for the opposition, as the Montreal Carabins defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 3 to 0.

The #1 ranked Carabins scored goals in each period and goaltender Elodie Rousseau-Sirois stopped 24 shots for the shut out.  Cassidy Hendricks for the U of Sask played very well and kept her team in the game stopping 29 of 32 Montreal shots. BOX SCORE

St. Thomas will now face the Huskies tomorrow night at 7PM in game four.  Come out and support your Tommies.

Game three tomorrow afternoon at 2PM will see AUS Champions U de M Aigles Bleues take on the OUA Champion Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks.

Game 1 in the History Books

The McGill Marletts defeated the WLU Golden Hawks 4 to 1 in Game one of the CIS Scotiabank Women's Nationals hosted by St. Thomas University.  Here Katia Clement-Heydra of McGill is being watched by WLU's Jackie Normandeau.   Photo Courtesy @WyldeMurph

In game one of the CIS Women's Hockey Championships, the McGill Martlets faced off against the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks at the Grant Harvey Centre.

McGill opened the scoring and we're able to get out to a 3-0 lead before the Golden Hawks put their first tally on the board midway through the third period. The Martlets were able to put the final insurance goal in though shortly afterwards, making it a 4-1 game. 

The Martlets started Taylor Hough in goal who was solid under pressure stopping 20 of 21 shots. The Golden Hawks started Amanda Smith who stopped 20 of 24 shots. The players of the game were Devon Skeats from Laurier and Gabrielle Davidson for McGill. 

Laurier will now play Universite De Moncton on Friday afternoon at 2pm to see if they can play their way into the semi-finals. 

Tonight the number four ranked Saskatchewan Huskies will face off against the number one ranked Carabins de l'Université de Montréal at 7pm, come early to catch the opening ceremonies to the tournament. 

Tommies draw RSEQ and Canada West Champions

STU heads into CIS Nationals ranked 6th

OTTAWA (CIS) – The defending national champion University of Montreal Carabins have been established tournament favourites heading into the 2014 Scotiabank CIS women’s hockey championship in Fredericton.

The seeding and pools were announced Sunday for the six-team competition, hosted for the first time by St. Thomas University. The tourney gets under way on Thursday at the Grant Harvey Centre and culminates next Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic Time with the gold-medal final, live on Sportsnet 360.

All nine games from the championship will also be webcast live on www.CIS-SIC.tv.

The Carabins, who a year ago captured their first CIS title in only their fourth season in the league, are seeded No. 1 for the second straight campaign. They will be joined at the event by the No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA champs), No. 3 Moncton Aigles Bleues (AUS champs), No. 4 Saskatchewan Huskies (Canada West champs), No. 5 McGill Martlets (RSEQ finalists) and No. 6 St. Thomas Tommies (hosts).

Reigning champion Montreal will compete in Pool A with Saskatchewan and St. Thomas in the round-robin portion of the competition. The Carabins open their title defence Thursday at 7 p.m. AT against the Huskies. The local favourite Tommies face the losers of that match-up on Friday and the winners on Saturday.

In Pool B, Laurier and McGill square off in the tournament opener Thursday at 2 p.m. Moncton takes on the losers on Day 2 and the winners on Day 3.

Montreal has been a remarkable story since joining the CIS women’s hockey circuit in 2009-2010, reaching the national final in its third campaign before claiming its first CIS banner last winter. The Carabins defeated archrival McGill in three games in the 2014 best-of-three RSEQ final, which concluded yesterday.

The Martlets are the most decorated program at this week’s championship with three CIS titles. Laurier has one, while Moncton, Saskatchewan and St. Thomas are looking for their first trophy.

NOTES: A complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday... A meet-the-teams media conference is scheduled for noon AT on Wednesday at the Grant Harvey Centre... The CIS major award winners and all-Canadians will be announced at a banquet Wednesday night.

SEEDING & POOLS

1. Montreal Carabins (RSEQ champions: 17-3-0 regular season / 4-1 playoffs)
2. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA champions: 18-3-3 regular season / 6-2 playoffs)
3. Moncton Aigles Bleues (AUS champions: 14-9-1 regular season / 6-2 playoffs)
4. Saskatchewan Huskies (CWUAA champions: 18-4-6 regular season / 4-2 playoffs)
5. McGill Martlets (RSEQ finalists: 18-2-0 regular season / 3-2 playoffs)
6. St. Thomas Tommies (Hosts: 12-7-5 regular season / 0-2 playoffs)

Pool A1. Montreal
4. Saskatchewan
6. St. Thomas

Pool B2. Wilfrid Laurier
3. Moncton
5. McGill

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE (all times ATLANTIC TIME)

Wednesday, March 1219:00 All-Canadian Banquet (Fredericton Inn - Bicentennial Ballroom)

Thursday, March 1314:00 Pool B #1: No. 5 McGill vs. No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool A #1: No. 4 Saskatchewan vs. No. 1 Montreal (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Friday, March 1414:00 Pool B #2: Loser Pool B #1 vs. No. 3 Moncton (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool A #2: Loser Pool A #1 vs. No. 6 St. Thomas (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Saturday, March 1514:00 Pool B #3: Winner Pool B #1 vs. No. 3 Moncton (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
19:00 Pool A #3: Winner Pool A #1 vs. No. 6 St. Thomas (www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

Sunday, March 1610:00 5th Place (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Bronze (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Final (Sportsnet 360 & www.CIS-SIC.tv) 

* The webcast of the championship final will be on pay-per-view basis.

Mounties Take Deciding Game

(File Photo) Tommies forward Jordan Miller (Kenya Marcelline) had
tonight's lone goal.

In game two of the AUS quarter finals, the STU Tommies played in Sackville, NB against the Mount Allison Mounties. The Mounties took the deciding game two, with a score of 4-1 over the Tommies.

The Mounties opened the scoring midway through the first period on a power play goal, with the Mounties also leading the shots on goal, 15-9. The Tommies poured lots of pressure onto the Mount A. netminder, Kate O'Brien but she held her ground and kept the Tommies off the score board.

Mount A added another goal when they scored at 11:10 making it 2-1 in the second period. Almost five minutes after that, though the Tommies scored their first goal on the Mounties off the stick of Jordan Miller (Marcelline) but the Mounties turned around quickly and scored again 28 seconds later to keep their two goal lead. Mount A. held onto their lead at the end of the second period 3-1. The Mounties kept their lead on the shots on goal 12-8.

The third period scoring didn't start till 13:32 in the frame, when the Mounties scored the final goal of the game making it 4-1. This goal was the third goal of the game for Mount A. forward Lindsay James. The third period shots on goal went to the Tommies when they put 10 shots on net minder Katie O'Brien to Mount A's 6. The game total for shots on goal went 33-27 for the Mounties.

The Tommies kept the pressure up on the Mounties goaltender Kate O'Brien, but were unable to solve her as she did not give the Lady Tommies many rebounds to work with stopping 32 of 33 shots. Kristen Wolfe was knocked down in the second period when a massive scramble happened in front of her crease. The Tommies goaltender was slow to get up but stayed in the game, proving she is a true gamer!

The season is not over for our Tommies though as they are hosting the CIS National Women's Hockey Championships March 13, 2014. They will be held here in Fredericton at the Grant Harvey Centre.

Mounties Take Game One

The lady Tommies, doing their traditional "T" stretch prior to their game
against Mount Allison.

The Mount Allison Mounties took the first game of the best of three series against our Lady Tommies in front of a home crowd of 100+ fans at the Grant/Harvey Centre tonight. The Mounties got out to a 3-0 lead before the Tommies were able to get their first goal of the game, almost midway through the third period, off the stick of Erin MacIsaac (Thomson, Marcelline). Alternate captain Cassidy McTaggart scored a wrap around goal late in the third period to keep it close an make it a 3-2 hockey game.

Captain Katie Brewster had a late game breakaway on Mounties goaltender Kate O'Brien, but was turned away by the Mount A. keeper. The Tommies poured lots of pressure on late in the third period but no luck would come their way in getting that third and tying goal. The shots on goal were 26-22 in favour of the Mounties.

The Tommies will now head to Sackville on Thursday, where the Ladies shut the Mounties just this past weekend to play in game two, puck-drop is 7pm. 

Postponed

STU Hockey Alumni & Friends:

 

Unfortunately, it is necessary to postpone our gathering with the team scheduled for this Thursday, Feb.20th as several players have commitments that evening.

We will keep you advised once a new date has been established. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

Friends of STU Hockey.

Huskies Pick-Up Win Going into Playoffs

"All good things come to an end" Graduating players, Sebastien Bernier #10, Yuri Cheremetiev #9, Randy Cameron #17, Jonathan Bonneau #51

In AUS men's hockey action tonight at the GHC, the Saint Mary's Huskies jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead and never looked back as they went on to defeat the Tommies 6-1. The teams exchanged goals in the 2nd with Colin Martin (Poulin,Bissonnette) scoring the lone Tommies goal. SMU scored the only goal in the 3rd.

 

Final shots: SMU 31; STU 15. Tommies were 1 for 6 on the PP.

 

Tonight's game marked the final game of the season for the Tommies and for graduating players Jon Bonneau, Yuri Cheremetiev, Sebastien Bernier & Randy Cameron who were recognized in a pre-game ceremony.

 

The Tommies finished the season with a 6-20-2 record, 14 points and 7th place in the AUS conference.

Tommies dump Mounties

In AUS women's hockey action from Sackville, NB, the Tommies defeated the Mt. Allison Mounties 2 - 0.  STU will be playing against these very same Mounties next week, as these two teams finished fourth and fifth in the AUS standings and will face each other in a quarter final best of three.

In this afternoon's game, Emily Francis scored her 6th and 7th goals of the season in the first and third periods providing all the offense the Tommies would need.  Kristin Wolfe and Christmas addition Laura Bray shared the goaltending duties to earn the shutout.

The playoff schedule has not been released yet but the Tommies will begin their march through the AUS playoffs beginning next week at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

X-Men post 5 - 3 victory over Tommies

Tommies rookie forward Brendan Childerley, with a goal
and an assist against St. FX.

In AUS men's hockey action from the Grant-Harvey Centre tonight, the St-FX X-Men scored some opportunistic goals and never trailed, as they defeated STU 5 to 3.  The Tommies played a strong game and deserved better than what they got but couldn't find the goals when they needed them.

St-FX jumped out to a 2 - 0 lead by the 10 minute mark of the first period, even though the Tommies were outshooting them 8 to 3 up to that point.  The puck just seemed to favour the X-Men in the first period, as the Tommies would end up with a 14 to 8 shot advantage after one.

Yuri Cheremetiev (Childerley) would cut X's lead in half at 11:26 of the second when he sniped one top shelf on the power play.  St-FX would get a gift goal at 15:20 when Blake Gal of the X-Men was left all alone in front of Jon Groenheyde.  STU didn't take long to respond though, as Brendan Childerley (Cameron, Hannay) banked one in off X-Men goalie Morgan Clark 23 seconds later.

The third period saw St. Thomas' Jon Bonneau assessed a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for slashing at 26 seconds.  The Tommies killed the penalty but only four seconds after it expired the X-Men would pull ahead by two goals.  They would extend the lead with an empty net tally with 1:47 to play to make it 5 to 2 but Matt Bissonnette (Sanza, Levesque) scored at 19:21 to give the final score of 5 to 3.

Final shots on goal were 36 - 32 for the X-Men.  The Tommies finish off their season tomorrow evening at 7 PM versus the Saint Mary's Huskies.  Come out and see if the Tommies can play spoiler as the Huskies look to move up in the AUS playoff picture.

Tommies goaltender, Jonathan Groenheyde, stopped 32 of 36 shots from the St. FX X-Men

Battle of the Saints



Graduating players, Yuri Cheremetiev, Jonathan Bonneau, Sebastien Bernier,
and Randy Cameron

 This weekend, are the final games of the regular season for our Men's Tommies. The St. FX X-Men are coming to the Elm City to face the Tommies on Friday night at the GHC for a 7pm start, while the Saint Mary's Huskies roll in on Saturday night for a 7pm face-off.

St. FX has had two wins over the Tommies this season with STU taking one game from them right before the Christmas break. All three of the games played to this point have been close separated by one and two goals, with one going to overtime.

On Saturday evening, the Tommies are going to be celebrating this season's crop of graduating players, forwards Jonathan Bonneau, Yuri Cheremetiev, and Randy Cameron along with defenseman Sebastien Bernier will be playing in their last game as a Tommie. The guys will be facing the Saint Mary's Huskies, a team that has had the number of the Tommies this season.

The lady Tommies will also be playing their final game of the regular season as they prepare for the playoffs, the ladies are playing in Sackville, NB on Saturday when they face-off against Mount Allison at 3:45pm. The Tommies have won two of the three games against the Mounties. The ladies have not played against the Mounties since before the Christmas break, STU have won four of their last five games with a heartbreaking shootout loss last Sunday afternoon against the Huskies while the Mounties look to end a three game losing skid, against our Tommies.

Come on out and cheer the guys on especially the grads as they prepare to take the next steps in their lives. If you are unable to come to the game, please tune in on AUStv.ca as well as follow @STUTommies on Twitter for in-game updates.

Tommies suffer shootout loss

In STU's final home game of the 2013-14 regular season, the Saint Mary's Huskies topped the Tommies 2 to 1 in a shoot out.  Kristin Wolfe was solid all game and stopped 30 of 31 shots in four periods of hockey.

The only goal of the first period was scored at 11:02 when Myfanwy Thomson (McTaggart, Marcelline) roofed the puck from in close on a scrambley play.  It looked like Marcelline scored the goal but the official box score shows Thomson.

Early in the second period the Huskies scored at 2:13 when Breanne Lanceleve was sprung on a breakaway and made no mistake slipping the puck past a sprawled Kristin Wolfe.

Later in the second period Teah Anderson was sent in on a breakaway and from our vantage point looked like she had given the Tommies the lead again.  The puck appeared to have hit the back bar of the net and come right back out.  Neither the goal judge or the referee signaled a goal so play went on.  STU would hit another goal post shortly after that and SMU dinged one of the post with only seconds left in the middle frame.

There was no scoring in the third period or OT, although the Tommies finished off the overtime period with a powerplay and just missed twice in the final seconds of the game.

In the shoot out, the Huskies scored with their first shooter and that was all they needed as they went 1 for 5, while STU was unable to capitalize on their five tries.

We also said thank you to our four graduating players this afternoon.  It was wonderful to see Kristin Wolfe, Jordan Miller, Amanda Burns, and Captain Katie Brewster honoured with their jerseys.  Those four young ladies have been wonderful ambassadors for STU and we have been nothing but proud of your inspired play for the past 4 or 5 years.  THANK YOU.

Panthers power through Tommies

In AUS men's hockey action from Charlottetown, the Tommies stayed with the speedy Panthers for two periods but were foiled in the third on two goals by UPEI.

The first two periods saw the Panthers pepper Jon Groenheyde with 34 shots but all they got on the scoreboard was one goal in the first ten minutes of the second frame.  Jon Bonneau (Cameron, Martin) scored at 15:44 on a breakaway to knot the game at ones.

UPEI took the lead for good at 1:34 of the third while the teams were playing four on four.  Shortly after Groenheyde kept STU close with some Domink Hasek like saves, the Panthers scored on the powerplay at 10:11 to seal the win.

Shots on goal were 51 to 23 for UPEI and 30 of those were good saves by Groenheyde.

STU will close out the season next weekend at home versus St-FX and Saint Mary's.

UNB tops Tommies in penalty filled battle

The final "Battle of the Hill" for the 2013-'14 season.

In AUS men's hockey action tonight at the GHC, the V-Reds scored 4 unanswered goals in the 2nd period to defeat the Tommies 6-1 in a penalty filled game.

The teams were tied at 1-1 after 20 minutes of play. In the 2nd, the V-Reds took advantage of Tommie penalties, adding 2 pp goals and scored a short handed marker for good measure out shooting STU 11-4 in the period.

STU's lone goal was scored on a 2 man PP and came off the stick of Marc-Andre Levesque (Beaudry-Cameron) in the 1st period.  Jon Groenheyde started for the Tommies, taking the loss as STU was out shot 23-18. 

Tonight's attendance, 1300+ including former Tommies Ron Hatfield & Phil Daigle.

Tonight's game report is compliments of our Friends at Trius.

Weekend Preview



Tommies Captain Felix Poulin

As the regular season comes to an end the Men's Tommies have one of their three upcoming remaining home games this weekend as UNB comes to the Grant-Harvey Centre for the last "Battle of the Hill" of the season on Friday night at 7pm. All three regular season games have been close and exciting for the fans in attendance. The Men then travel to UPEI on Saturday to face the Panthers at 7pm.

Tommies Captain Katie Brewster



The Lady Tommies are in action as well this weekend when they play the UPEI Panthers on the Island on Friday night at 7pm and come back home to play the SMU Huskies on Sunday afternoon at 2pm at the GHC. The Ladies will be looking to keep their momentum going and keep their three game winning streak alive and well as the regular season winds down. 

 

Come on out and cheer on the Green and Gold to victory!! If you are unable to make it, the games will be broadcast on AUStv.ca or follow @STUTommies for game updates on Twitter. 

Acadia lowers the Axe on STU

The Acadia Axemen scored three goals in the first period and five goals in the second en route to an 8 to 3 victory over the Tommies.

Steve Sanza and Randy Cameron both had a goal and assist while Yuri Cheremetiev picked up the other STU tally.  Matt Bissonnette and Jonathan Bonneau each picked up an assist.

Jon Groenheyde allowed three goals during his 13:59 of play and Alex St-Arnaud was tagged with five goals in 46:01.

STU returns home next Friday night and take on the Varsity Reds at the GHC before heading to PEI for a Saturday night tilt against the Panthers.

Huskies Bitten by Wolfe

Kristin Wolfe turned away 47-49 shots from the Huskies (File Photo)

The Lady Tommies defeated the SMU Huskies, 3-2, in their meeting today continuing in their winning ways in Halifax. The Tommies have extended their winning streak today, to three games.

The Tommies were the first team to strike, the goal was off the stick of team captain Katie Brewster(Apperson, Snider). The goal was scored very early into the game at 44 seconds in. The Tommies kept the Huskies off balance throughout most of the period. SMU led the shots on goal 12-9.

The second period went scoreless until almost the middle of the frame. SMU slid one past the Tommies keeper, Kristin Wolfe at 8:49. This didn't phase the Tommies though, as they scored 14 seconds later. The go ahead goal was scored by Myfanwy Thomson(Marcelline), making the score 2-1. The Huskies still kept pressure on Wolfe though with the shots on goal 17-3 in favour of the Huskies.

With the third period underway the scoring didn't start till the Huskies were able to get the equalizer at 11:51 in the period. The Tommies played strong though holding the Huskies back from getting any more goals on the board pushing the game to overtime. SMU more than doubled the Tommies shots on goal with 16-6.

In the overtime frame the Tommies took a inopportune penalty when the Tommies captain Katie Brewster went to the box for checking giving the Huskies a four on three chance in overtime, which could have been the final nail in the game for the Tommies but they stayed composed on the penalty kill. The Huskies were not able to capitalize on the power play and shortly after they would send one of their own to the penalty box taking some of the pressure off the Tommies. Brewster was released from the sin bin, and the Tommies were on the power play when Eliza Snider(Brewster) scored the sudden death goal,
ending the game. SMU still had more shots on goal in overtime leading the Tommies, 4-2.

Kristin Wolfe stood on her head again turning away 47 of 49 shots on goal. She did have some help though as Myfanwy Thomson scoring a goal on one end, kept one out of her own net at the other end.

The Tommies are back in action next weekend when they face the UPEI Panthers on Friday night at 7pm on the Island.  

Men's Tommies Complete Season Sweep of the Tigers

Rookie, Michael Beaudry, four goals, one assist (File Photo)

It was a goal filled affair as the men's Tommies completed the season sweep of the Dalhousie Tigers. This was a the first season sweep for the Tommies in two seasons, the last time they did it was against the St. FX X-men. The crowd in attendance and watching online on AUStv.ca were treated to a game that had 14 goals scored in it, with the Tommies coming out on top 8-6.

Dal opened the scoring early in the game, but not to be out-done, Michael Beaudry (Sanza, Bissonnette) tied the game up. Both teams settled into their game plans after this though till 15:30 into the game before the Tommies were able to put another marker on the board from Matt Bissonnette (Childerley, Beaudry) making it 2-1 for STU. The Tommies lead the shots on goal in the first 16-8.

The second period started much the same way as the first period did, with Dal tying the game up with a goal early on at 3:24. The Tommies again though showing their resilience, scored just under a minute later off the stick of Sebastien Bernier (Levesque, Cameron) and then another nine seconds later from Beaudry (Unassisted) while catching Tigers goaltender Wendell Vye out of his net, making the score 4-2. Dal came back though making a game of it tying it up going into the third period, with 4 goals a piece. The Tigers lead the shots on goal 10-8 in the second.

Jonathan Bonneau, one goal and two assists (File Photo)

The third period was filled with offense, Jon Bonneau (Levesque, Cameron) opened the scoring breaking the stalemate with a career highlight of a toe drag to beat Tigers keeper, Wendell Vye. Under two minutes later Yuri Cheremetiev(unassisted) scored on a partial breakaway, making it a 6-4 game. Michael Beaudry(Bonneau, Bissonnette) scored what should have been the insurance marker taking the score to 7-4. Dal showing resilience of their own though managed to put two goals in the Tommies net within the last two minutes of the game, making it 7-6. The Tommies added the final goal of the game though with six seconds left on the clock, in a move of complete unselfishness with Beaudry passing the puck to Jon Bonneau in front of the empty net and Bonneau putting the puck back on Beaudry's(Bonneau, Leduc) tape making the final score 8-6. The Tommies lead the shots on goal in the third period 16-10, as well as the game 40-28.

The Tommies are back in action as they make the trip to Wolfville, NS to take on the Acadia Axemen, at 7pm, Saturday night. Catch the action on AUStv.ca

 

Lady Tommies drop Dalhousie

The St. Thomas Tommies got both their goals in the first period and held on to defeat the Dalhousie Tigers 2 to 1 tonight in Halifax.

Kenya Marcelline scored both goals for STU, her first at 7:44 when she had just exited the penalty box and went in on a 3 on 1 break with Teah Anderson and Kelty Apperson.  Apperson made the perfect pass and Marcelline buried it into the open net.  Her second goal and eventual game winner was scored at 11:57 on the PP from Eliza Snider and Myfanwy Thomson.

Dalhousie scored early in the second period to cut the lead in half but Kristin Wolfe was solid when called upon and denied the Tigers the remainder of the night.   STU out shot Dalhousie 30 to 26.

With the win St. Thomas reclaims third place in the AUS standings, one point up on Moncton with one extra game played. The Tommies will stay in Halifax tonight and play the second place SMU Huskies tomorrow afternoon at 3PM.  They better be ready.

Moncton defeats Tommies

Another tough outing for the guys in green and gold as the U de M Aigles Bleus dismantled the Tommies 5 to 1.  Moncton scored when they were given chances and STU was not able to convert.

U de M scored one goal in the first period and three goals in the second period to take command of the game.

Yuri Cheremetiev (Bernier, Cameron) scored a  powerplay maker early in the third for STU's lone goal.

An interesting play occurred at 5:52 of the third period.  STU was killing a penalty when a player lost his stick.  Sebastien Bernier tried to shoot/direct the loose stick out of the middle of the ice by moving it with the blade of his stick.  The stick ended up sliding toward a Moncton player that had just received a pass.  The stick hit the puck and forced the Moncton player to loss control of the puck.  The referee immediately blew the play dead and awarded U de M a penalty shot.  I suppose it was for "throwing the stick"?  It was inadvertent, as there was no way Bernier could have planned what happened.  There was no scoring chance that was ruined but nevertheless a penalty shot was called.  Jon Groenheyde did eventually make the save on the penalty shot but U de M carried on with the powerplay and would score their fifth goal with one second left on it.

The rest of the third period got chippy and 31 minutes in penalties were handed out in the final 11 minutes of the game.  Final shots on goal were 34 - 21 for Moncton.  STU was 1 for 5 on the PP and 5 for 7 on the PK.

Men's Tommies Lose Heartbreaker to UNB

Steve Sanza, with two goals on the night.

The Tommies played in the annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial game at the AUC tonight against cross campus rivals, UNB. The game which celebrates the life of former player and coach for the then UNB Red Devils. The 2100+ fans were treated to a great game which unfortunately ended up with the Squirrels coming out on top.

The Tommies were missing a few regular faces at the puck drop, with D-man Jordan Thomas still out with a lower body injury, Jason Trott was not in tonight's line-up, and Colin Martin came out with the team for warm-ups but was scratched before the game began.

The first period was full of excitement as the Tommies came out and scored two goals off the stick of rookie forward Matt Bissonnette, the first one scored at 1:57 into the game unassisted and the second on a power play at 3:49 assisted by Jonathan Bonneau and Brendan Childerley. UNB did lead the shots on goal though doubling the Tommies, 12-6. STU's goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde kept UNB off the board turning away all 12 shots.

The second period started with a goaltender change, with UNB pulling former Tommie, Charlie Lavigne and replacing him with back-up, Joel Vienneau. Steve Sanza(Yuri Cheremetiev & Alex Leduc) came out and scored less then a minute into the frame making it a 3-0 hockey game, UNB not to be outdone scored shortly after making it a 3-1 game still in favour of the Tommies. UNB would add another on a power play but 0:21 seconds later, Steve Sanza(Sebastien Bernier) added his second goal of the night, 4-2 Tommies at this point. UNB would add another marker though before the end of the period making it a 4-3 game going into the third period. UNB had doubled the Tommies again in the shots on goal category 10-5, for a two period total of 22-11.

The Tommies hung in turning away UNB in the third period until 12:49, when the Squirrels tied the game up, they would then add another a little over three minutes later and an empty net goal with 1:20 left on the game clock. The final score of the game was 6-4 for the Squirrels. UNB lead the shots on goal 16 to STU's, 1. The final shots on goal were 38 to 12. The Tommies did better the Squirrels on the power play though, scoring on 2 of 6 chances, while UNB scored on 2 of 9 chances.

The Tommies are back in action Saturday evening at the GHC and the game time is 7pm. Come on out and cheer on the Green and Gold!

Rookie forward Matt Bissonnette to the right of the picture scoring on former Tommie, Charlie Lavigne. Matt had two goals on the night.

Wolfe and Apperson lead Tommies over X

With some timely goal scoring by Kelty Apperson and the solid goaltending of Kristin Wolfe, the Lady Tommies defeated the St-FX X-Women 3 to 2 in a shoot out.  It was STU's first win at the Grant-Harvey Center over X in four tries since opening the building back in the fall of 2012.

Tonight, it was Apperson who opened the scoring for STU at the 8:00 minute mark of the first period when she took a Katie Brewster pass at the side of the net and fired it home from a sharp angle.  Connor Garagan tied the game for X 1:17 later.  The match would remain tied until the third period.

St. FX would take their first lead of the game at 6:08 of the third period on the powerplay.  With time running out on the Tommies, Kelty Apperson (Steinert, Brewster) tied the game with 1:41 to go.  She also missed on a breakaway with under 30 seconds to play and was a force all night creating havoc in the X-Women's end from the "get go".

After regulation the game was tied at 2 and the shots favoured X, 38 to 25.

The overtime period solved nothing.

In the shootout Kristin Wolfe was spectacular stopping all 5 X-Women shooters and Jenna Scott put one in the attic knocking the water bottle off the net for STU's only goal.

This was a huge win for the Tommies and an important 2 points in the standings.  

UdeM Get a "Win" From Lady Tommies

Forward Kelty Apperson, one assist on the night.

In a hard fought game by our Lady Tommies, the UdeM Aigles Bleues came out on top by the final buzzer. UdeM won the game 4-1 and led the shots on goal as well, 31-20.

UdeM opened the scoring just under the five minute mark at 4:45 of the first period on an unassisted goal in front of the Tommies net on keeper Kristin Wolfe. The Tommies answered back though on a goal from Captain Katie Brewster (Kelty Apperson) at 11:38. UdeM led the period in shots on goal 10-5.

The second period started with UdeM scoring a goal at 6:38 into the frame. Alternate Captain Cassidy McTaggart left the ice after having a collision with a UdeM player on the visiting teams blue line, McTaggart did return to the game. Moncton did have another goal at 14:39 on a power play, making the score 3-1 in favour of the Aigles Bleues. UdeM led the shots on goal in the period 10-9.

Moncton added their final goal at 3:18 in the third period, making the final score 4-1. The Tommies did have quite a few quality chances on UdeM keeper Emilie Bouchard but could not capitalize. Tommies keeper, Kristin Wolfe had several great saves during the game, but really kept the Ladies in the game in the third period. Jordan Miller did leave the ice during the frame after being hit into the boards in front of the "Home" team penalty box, Miller did not return to the game. UdeM hung on to the shots on goal, 11-6.

The Lady Tommies are back in action on Friday night at the GHC at 7:00pm to face the St. FX X-Women. Come on out and cheer on your Tommies.

Tommies alternate captain Cassidy McTaggart, with a UdeM D-Lady in hot pursuit.

X-Men hang on for win over Tommies

Three goals in just under six minutes of the second period proved to be the difference as the St-FX X-Men defeated the Tommies 4 to 2 tonight in Antigonish.  

St. Thomas was first on the board at 15:28 of the first period as Felix Poulin scored his 4th goal of the year on the powerplay with the only assist going to Jon Bonneau.  For the most part the X-Men controlled the period out shooting the Tommies 10 to 4 but STU took the lead into the intermission.

St-FX scored three goals in a row at 4:56, 9:54 and 10:50 of the second period to take a 3 to 1 lead.  STU fought back scoring their second goal of the night off the stick of Matt Bissonnette (Childerley, Beaudry) at 15:07 cutting the advantage to one.  

STU battled hard in the third but couldn't find the equalizer and X scored into the empty net with 9 seconds left in the game to seal the win.  Final shots on goal were 31 to 20 for St-FX.

The Tommies next action will be this Friday night at the AUC when they take on the Varsity Reds.  

Tonights game report is compliments of our Friends at Coca-Cola.