The women’s hockey team began their regular season on Friday. They beat the Waterloo Warriors 2-0, but dropped their next contest 2-1, to the Laurier Golden Hawks on Saturday.
Head coach Matthew Holmberg said he was of two minds about his team’s performance.
“Well from the point of view of a win and a loss, I have mixed thoughts,” he said. “We are never happy with a loss. … I thought we played well in both games, and continue to show improvement from the start of the [pre]season.”
The Gaels’ performance in the preseason appeared shaky at times. Despite winning three of their five contests, all victories were by a margin of just one goal. The team was beaten 5-4 by the Burlington Barracudas, and resoundingly defeated by the Concordia Stingers, 4-1.
“I think [the pre-season] prepared us well,” Holmberg said. “It was good to get those losses out of the way and to make improvements, rather than to go 5-0.”
Goaltender Mel Dodd-Moher played both games in net, allowing a total of just three goals and making 51 saves over the course of the weekend. Holmberg was confident in Dodd-Moher’s play but said she would be sharing goaltending duties with Karissa Savage and Engi Lim.
“She was rock solid,” he said. “We will take it on a week-to-week basis. [Who will get the start] depends on how they perform in games and in practice. There are a lot of factors that go into the decision.” Captain Michelle Hunt was upbeat about the team’s performances.
“We’re never happy with a loss but I feel like we got off on the right foot,” she said. “We showed that we have the capability to be one of the best teams in the league. But there is still work to do.”
The captain stressed discipline as a deciding factor in the Gaels’ first win against the Warriors.
“With Waterloo, they were kind of a chippy team,” she said. “The key with them was to keep up and keep our discipline. We went out there with lots of energy. We made sure not to let them win any battles.” Hunt said she felt that the penalties were the deciding factor in the team’s loss to Laurier.
“Both [of Laurier’s] goals were on the power play,” she said. “On even play, we were competing, [we] were definitely playing with them. In special teams, they took advantage.” For Hunt, she said the team’s approach to their next meeting with Laurier will be straightforward.
“I think we should concentrate on special teams, and have the discipline not to get penalties,” she said, adding that she was encouraged by how well the team is gelling.
“Our team has a lot of chemistry,” she said. “We are all on the same page. We are all looking to be better and stronger every time we step out on the ice. And we have a lot of fun together.”
Hunt hoped that her team would carry the positive energy into Saturday’s game against the Western Mustangs, a team that had a lackluster 10-17 record last season. Hunt’s Gaels eked out a 2-1 win over the Mustangs in the pre-season.
“We will definitely be better this time,” she said. “The last time we played them it was still the pre-season. We were still developing a system and getting to know each other. Now that we have two games under our belt, I think we can take it to them and I think it can be our game.”
The Gaels will play this weekend at London against the University of Western Ontario Mustangs and in Windsor against the University of Windsor Lancers.
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