The women’s hockey team will be searching for answers this week after their road trip to Toronto resulted in losses to the York Lions and University of Toronto Varisity Blues.
The Gaels lost to York 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday, and lost 4-3 to the University of Toronto Varsity Blues after coming back from a 4-1 deficit on Sunday.
The Gaels notched 44 shots against the Lions and 50 shots against the Varsity Blues.
“Getting shots on net and getting the puck to the net has been a focus for us for the whole year,” head coach Matt Holmberg said. “We’ve certainly got the shots, just not as many goals. We’re going to work on our power play a bit more … I’m sure a few more will start going in.”
Holmberg said the team faced several distractions, but wouldn’t attribute the losses to them.
“It would be easy to make excuses; we had transportation issues that made us late for the game and trouble with the pre-game meal,” he said. “We also had pretty major injuries that hampered us going into the game. But I’m not going to do that.”
On Saturday, the Lions opened the scoring late in the first period, but Gaels forward Elizabeth Kench countered seconds into the second frame. First-year goaltender Mel Dodd-Maher stopped 34 of York’s 35 shots.
Kench said the trip down to York was not a normal one for the Gaels.
“The York game, if you watch it, you’d think we should’ve won. … We couldn’t capitalize and then we lost,” she said. “We were about two to two-and-a-half hours late in leaving [for Toronto], which meant we had to eat on the bus, we had a short warmup when we got to York. You’re a little disoriented because you’re not doing your normal routine.”
Kench said the Gaels didn’t capitalize on their numerous chances.
“Two hard-fought games,” she said. “I don’t think the want wasn’t there, we just let two games slip away,” she said.
The Gaels, sitting in second spot in the OUA, have games this weekend against the seventh-place Brock Badgers and the fourth-place Guelph Gryphons, both at the Memorial Centre.
“I’m a firm believer in that with shots, goals will come,” Kench said. “We had a few injuries, a few players short in practise, and it was a matter of having girls coming back in and juggling. I think next week we’ll come back hard.”
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