KINGSTON, Ont. – A goal from Shawna Griffin at 2:19 of overtime lifted the Queen's Gaels to a 2-1 victory over the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon at the Kingston Memorial Centre.
The loss was only the second regular season defeat for the Mustangs this season, and halts the purple and white's winning streak at 11 games. Western now holds a 12-0-2 record and remains in first place in the OUA, while Queen's improves to 10-2-2, and sit in second place in the standings.
There was no doubt that Sunday afternoon's contest was going to be a tough one for the Mustangs as the Gaels have proved to be one of the best teams in the league all season. The Gaels had no plans to prove otherwise in Sunday's matchup and they didn't wait long to make their mark as Micaela Smith found the back of the net just over a minute into the first period to give Queen's an early 1-0 lead.
The Gaels set a strong precedent in the opening minutes of the match, one that had the Mustangs in recovery mode trying relentlessly to even out the score for the remainder of the period.
Despite the Mustangs best efforts to put themselves onto the scoreboard, the purple and white were evenly matched by the Gaels and neither team was able to make any changes to the scoreboard before the first intermission.
In the second period the battle to control the puck continued as both teams let off 11 shots each on their opposing goaltenders. While both teams produced a number of opportunities to take control of the game, it was the Mustangs who prevailed midway through the period as
Kendra Broad put the puck past the Gaels Caitlyn Lahonen on the power play to record her team-leading ninth goal of the season. The marker evened out the scoreboard, and with the Gaels unable to respond in the remainder of the period the game headed into the third tied 1-1.
In the third frame the Mustangs found themselves plagued by penalties with six different players serving minor infractions that totaled 12 minutes in the period. With the Mustangs killing penalties for the majority of the frame, the Gaels had a number of chances to take the lead. Fortunately for the Mustangs,
Kelly Campbell proved once again why she is one of the best goaltenders in the CIA as the St. Thomas, Ont., native stopped all 11 shots on net to keep the score locked st 1-1 snd send the game into overtime.
The Gaels took control of the puck early and just over two minutes in Griffin was able to get the puck past Campbell to let Queen's skate away with a 2-1 victory.
Sunday's game marked the last regular season match-up before the mid-season break and the Mustangs will now enjoy some well deserved time off before returning to the ice for exhibition action on January 2, when they begin a tournament at the University of Montreal. Western then resumes their OUA regular season schedule on January 10 when they welcome Laurentian to Thompson Arena.
