Things are looking up for this year’s Tigers women’s hockey team.
It was a tough pre-season for Sean Fraser’s young squad, who went 0-6 and were outscored 26-7 over that stretch. The new-look Tigers featured 15 first-year players and was definitely showing signs of inexperience.
The team opened their season with a road game against the CIS No.4 ranked StFX X-Women. The Tigers couldn’t keep pace with the X-Women and were down 3-0 in the first ten minutes. They were simply outclassed in the 7-0 route, and were outshot 9-36.
The Tigers regrouped for their next game just one day later, this time a home game against St. Thomas. They continued their undisciplined play and had 16 penalty minutes in the game, but St. Thomas went scoreless on the power play and didn’t make them pay. Lisa MacLean scored the first goal of her career in the first period, and that goal would turn out to be the winner as the Tigers won 1-0. Mati Barrett posted 19 saves in the win for the shutout.
After the win, the Tigers would go on a four-game winless streak, going 0-3-1. The streak was culminated with a 3-2 overtime loss against UPEI, where the Tigers nearly mounted a comeback after being down 2-0, but the Panthers scored in overtime to send the Tigers home empty-handed.
On November 9 against Mount Allison, the Tigers offense exploded for six goals, including three in the first period. After the Mounties opened the scoring midway through the first period, the Tigers scored three times in a five-minute span to make it 3-1. The teams would trade goals in the second, and Fielding Montgomery and Marita Alfieri scored short-handed goals late in the third period to extend the lead to 6-2.
The next weekend, the Tigers went on a two-game road trip, facing off against UPEI and Moncton. They’d come out empty-handed on the weekend, losing 2-0 and 4-2.
Since then, the team has gone 2-2 and has looked much more confident.
First-year forward and Inverness, NS native Lisa MacLean has led the way offensively for the Tigers with three goals and five assists in 13 games. Veteran forwards Megan O’Neill and Fielding Montgomery have seven and six points on the season, respectively.
The Tigers will have a tough schedule in 2014, with six of their 11 remaining games coming against teams above .500.