Home » Sports » Hockey » Mustangs keep playoff hopes alive

Mustangs keep playoff hopes alive

The Western Mustangs women’s hockey team got back in the win column on Sunday afternoon and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
They may have needed the shootout to do it, but the Mustangs defeated the Waterloo Warriors 2-1 at Thompson arena. The two points were crucial for the Mustangs, as they are in a battle for playoff positioning in the Ontario University Athletics conference.
The Mustangs had dropped four in a row coming into the Waterloo game, all by one-goal margins and were determined not to suffer the same fate on Sunday. Western’s leading goal scorer Ellie Seedhouse talked about the importance of her team maintaining focus late in games.
“We need to keep up the effort when we are ahead because we have had a lot of tight games that we have ended up losing in the second and third period. So we need to just keep our confidence up and keep working for 60 minutes,” Seedhouse said.
Western’s goals in the shootout came from Chantal Morais and Meghan Hewins, while Western goalie Jessica Ulrich came up big by stopping two Waterloo shooters.
Ulrich also stopped 25 of the 26 shots she faced, frustrating the Warrior forwards.
“[Western] showed up today. [They] played really well,” Waterloo head coach Geraldine Heaney said. “The effort was there but we just couldn’t put the puck in the net and you can’t win unless you put the puck in the net.”
The intensity of the game was also apparent, with 19 penalties being called.
“It was like a war out there,” Western head coach Paul Cook said. “It was a physical battle today, but we persevered.”
The Mustangs managed to convert one of their 10 opportunities to open the scoring three minutes in to the second period with Seedhouse scoring her 14th goal of the season.
Seedhouse has been finding the net with ease this year and her power play goal was a perfect example of her accurate shooting.
“We were on the power play [and] I came out from the corner and shot it short side bottom left,” she said.
Waterloo was finally able to put one in the back of the net when they scored with four minutes remaining in the second period to tie the game. The third period and overtime saw both teams exchange quality opportunities but both goalies were solid.
“We really needed two points no matter how you look at it,” Cook said. “[I] didn’t want to have to get to a shootout because I don’t want to share points with anyone either, but at the same time its two points in our favour.”
The Mustangs appear to be playing some of their best hockey of the season, with a victory on Sunday combined with a strong showing the day before against the Laurier Golden Hawks, the second-ranked team in the country.
“You win with 20 people every night,” Cook said. “I think what has happened with us is we have started to find everybody’s role and [understand] how important everybody’s role on this team is.”
Western continues their playoff push next weekend with home games against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues and the York Lions.

Follow the Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.