A Mounties affair: taking on the league’s number-one force

On Sunday, January 7th, at 7:00 pm, the Mount Allison Mounties women's hockey team faced off against the UNB Fredericton Reds at the Tantramar Civic Centre. In their 17th game of the season, recently coming off their first win of the season, the Mounties look to bounce back from their loss against the StFX X-Women, a 3-2 contest on January 4th.

The first period of the Mounties and Reds hockey game was dominated offensively by the Reds in the offensive zone. Still, the Mounties' relentless defensive efforts ensured the score remained 0-0 through 20 minutes of play. Led by goaltender Hanna Pagdato, who made several momentum-shifting saves early on, including a highway robbery of UNB's Jorja Nystrom all alone just outside the crease at 6:04 of the first period, her teammates played inspired hockey for their rock-solid goaltender.

Only minutes following Pagdato's game-changing save, Makenna Percival laid her body out on the ice, blocking a Red's point shot and clearing the zone before being welcomed on the bench with fist bumps and cheers for her efforts. An ensuing step-up from Jenna Wiebe disrupted the UNB offensive threat late in the third period. Wiebe was all over the ice in this opening period, demonstrating her smooth skating at centre, providing support during breakouts and serving as the high-pressure force checker on her line, leading by example.

Offensively, the Mounties showed flashes of brilliance. On one occasion, assistant-captain Tallon Stephenson was robbed point blank by UNB's Kendra Woodland in goal, with only the shaft of her stick protecting the goal line. This was the Mounties' first high-danger chance of the period. The chances presented themselves, and the Mounties came within inches of capitalizing on the AUS' number-one-ranked team in the conference.

Late in the period, with only one minute remaining, a cross-checking penalty to Mounties forward Chelsea Krahenbil would put the Mounties on their heels for the final 60 seconds of the period. The unmatched stick-checking and smooth edges of Oceane Asham and Julia Lee, respectively, were needed to provide a calming, veteran-like presence in the defensive zone for a successful kill.

The second period's intensity only elevated with each passing shift. After a successful Mounties penalty kill to open the period, cheers and stick taps from the Mounties bench livened up the arena's atmosphere. Percival is having herself a game, despite her small size, causing havoc all over the ice. Midway through the period, the hard-skating winger jumped over everyone to swat away a puck out of mid-air. After Pagdato covered a puck earlier on, the opposing sides engaged in some rough-housing after the whistle, and it was Cassie Clark of the Mounties who served a two-minute hooking call. She expressed her disfavour with the call on her way to the penalty box. Unfortunately for the home side, with 38 seconds remaining in Clark's minor penalty, UNB's Lauren Carter capitalizes on a rebound off of 25's point shot, striking a five-hole sweep shot, and gives UNB a 1-0 lead. The coherent Red's power play, filled with eye-catching puck movement, was bound to strike eventually.

The momentum shifted back in favour of the Mounties at 8:20 when Mount A found themselves on the power play with their first grade A opportunity of the period. After a puck squeaked loose on the side boards of UNB's defensive zone, Pagdato turned aside a break-away chance for the Reds, one of many great shutdown saves to keep the Mounties within one. The power play did not result in a Mounties goal, but the offensive pressure for Mount A did. A point-blank chance for Dallas Mackenzie and Hailey Simoneau was turned aside, and soon thereafter, Mackenzie found herself serving a two-minute body-checking penalty.

Never minding a threatening UNB power play, Mollie Grabbe's unrelenting penalty-killing pressure drew a tripping call, giving the Mounties 1:27 of power play time before the end of the period. Evidently, the first power-play unit runs through Asham on the right flank, and although they were unsuccessful on this attempt, they gave themselves a chance to draw even with the Reds in the third period.

The third period provided arguably the most entertaining showing for the Mounties all season long. Only minutes into the final frame, Lillian George of the Reds received a two-minute interference call. As the game intensified and a general dislike grew for one another, the women maintained a certain level of respect throughout. Then, from the high slot, Chelsea Krahenbil rips the puck top shelf, her fourth of the season, and brings the Mounties even with UNB. None other than Percival, rewarded for her efforts with her first point of the season, recorded the primary assist. Tie game.

Moments later, the Reds struck back, and Sydney Oitomen on UNB helped lead the #1 seeded Reds to two key points, much-needed to secure first place ahead of the #2 ranked X-women. With back-and-forth pressure from both teams, the refs put their whistles away, and with more play-driving from Asham, a former Minnesota State D1 player, and Percival, the Mounties called timeout with 2:04 to go in this tight contest. After Mount Allison exited the defensive zone, Pagdato hurried to the bench for an extra skater. However, the Reds' overwhelming speed was too much for the Mounties to convert, and UNB buried their first open-net chance to ice the game.

The final: 3-1.

The Mounties next square-off against the Dalhousie Tigers on January 12th at the Civic Centre. With two strong regular-season showings to start the New Year, this Mounties team might just be playing by the 'New Year, New Team' motto.

Courtesy of Ben Broadbent