By Hayden Godfrey
A night marked by firsts on both sides, the Ryerson Rams women’s hockey team dismantled the visiting Windsor Lancers and cruised to a 7-1 victory on Oct. 25 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Minutes into the opening frame, Rams forward Karli Nummikoski found the back of the net when she slapped a loose puck past Windsor goalie Jaydlin Spooner on the short side.
The rest of the period, marred by minor penalties from both squads, ended with Windsor’s Maggie Peterson scoring her first career Ontario University Athletics goal. Peterson and her linemates celebrated emphatically, with the first-year forward getting mobbed upon her return to the bench.
After a few tough minutes at the beginning of the second period, the Rams regained the lead, thanks to the stickwork of Mia Morano, who fooled Spooner and scored her first goal as a Ram.
“Honestly, I was surprised when I scored, but it felt pretty good,” said Morano. “As soon as I saw the [defence] stacked up on [Emily] Baxter, I thought, ‘it’s my time to go.’”
Seconds later, forward Erika Crouse joined in on the fun and scored her first goal of the season from the high slot to extend her team’s lead. The Rams scored yet again in the period when Laura Ball tipped and redirected a Teagan Gartley wrist shot past Spooner, for Ryerson’s third goal in five minutes.
Four minutes into the third period, Baxter broke away and tucked a loose puck through Spooner’s five-hole to extend the Rams lead to 5-1. Mariah Hinds poured more salt on the wound and took advantage of a breakaway by deking her way to her second goal of the season.
The sixth Ryerson goal forced Windsor into a goalie change.
“We certainly found our stride and didn’t look back, so that was great to see,” said Rams head coach Lisa Haley. “We feel like every player that’s on our roster can play. I think we’re starting to remember how tough it is to get points.”
Finally, Hinds put the icing on the cake by potting an empty-net goal from her own end. The Rams proceeded to close things out and came away with a comfortable 7-1 victory.
With the win, the Rams improve to 2-2-0 on the season.
UP NEXT: The Rams will travel to the Gryphon Centre on Oct. 30 to face off against the 1-2-0 Guelph Gryphons. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
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