By Luke Galati
After the first period of play in its game against Queen’s Friday night, the Ryerson Rams (7-8) women’s hockey team was outshot 24-10. That led to a score of 3-0 after the first period, and ultimately decided the game, a 4-0 loss against the Gaels (11-2-2).
“I think they surprised us with their speed, and it took us a long time to adjust to that, and unfortunately the game was decided in the first period,” head coach Lisa Haley said after the game.
Speaking on the shot total allowed in the first period, Ryerson’s captain Jessica Hartwick said, “That’s something we want to give up in an entire game.”
After the huge disparity on the scoreboard after the first, Ryerson regrouped during the first intermission. Haley said that in the locker room, “we just talked about what our identity is, as a team. Are we really a team that gives up 24 shots to anybody in the CIS? Or are we a team that competes for a full 60 minutes?”
By the end of the game, Queen’s outshot Ryerson by only one. Nonetheless, Ryerson couldn’t beat Queens’ Stephanie Pascal, who at .978 has the best save percentage amongst any goalie in Ontario University Athletics.
“I saw a totally different game from start to finish,” Haley said, adding that, “We threw everything but the kitchen sink at them, just waiting for that dam to break, and we just couldn’t get that first goal to get some confidence.”
Amid an on the ice performance that Ryerson will likely want to forget, Haley said, “I was happy to see that there is no quit in this team.”
Ryerson currently sits in the eighth and final playoff spot in the OUA. With a near .500 winning percentage to start the New Year, Ryerson will look to regroup before it visits the last place Brock Badgers on Jan. 16.
Leave a Reply