By Ryan Stieg
MENDOTA HEIGHTS – Heading into this season, the St. Thomas women’s hockey added some much-needed offensive depth to its roster and that depth was on display in Friday night’s season opening rout of Post.
Six different Tommies scored with Keara Parker netting two goals as UST blew out the Eagles 7-0. Tommies goalie Calla Frank also notched her first shutout as a Tommie and the eighth of her collegiate career.
“I think it’s what I really hoped for our team,” Tommies head coach Joel Johnson said. “The score is the score, but I was more concerned with how we played. I thought we did a good job of taking advantage when we could of offensive opportunities and certainly defended really well. I told our team it felt like a blurry, kind of a stuffy game, and I said, ‘Let’s stay patient on offense and really passionate on defense.’ And I was really proud of how our team played defensively, in the third period in particular.”
Just like during last week’s exhibition win over Manitoba, it didn’t take long for the Tommies to find their groove offensively as Parker scored at the 4:12 mark of the first period. The Eagles tried to clear out a loose puck in front, but sent it right to a waiting Parker, who fired it into the open net.
At the 5:54 mark, Madison Brown padded UST’s lead to 2-0. Tommies forward Ella Boerger rang a shot off the crossbar on an offensive rush, but Brown was right by the net and tapped the rebound past Post goalie Hannah Saunders.
It was more of the same for UST in the second period. Cara Sajevic pushed the Tommies’ advantage to three goals when her shot was deflected into the net by an Eagles defender and toward the end of the period, Maddie Jurgensen made it 4-0 UST. After a Sajevic shot was denied by Saunders, Jurgensen snapped the rebound past the sprawling goalie.
The Eagles made a goalie change to start the third as Hali Lawrence replaced Saunders, but that didn’t change their fortunes as the Tommies kept their foot on the gas. Lauren Stenslie scored at the 2:59 mark on a great individual effort, beating Lawrence on a wrister. Less than two minutes later, Parker notched her second goal of the night, scoring off a loose puck in front of the net and at the 7:19 mark, Chloe Boreen scored her first collegiate goal to cap off the scoring. Tommies forward Rylee Bartz skated toward the net and then fed the puck to a charging Boreen, who one-timed it past Lawrence.
The majority of the action was at the other end of the ice throughout the game, which can sometimes cause goalies to lose focus, but Frank stayed with it and did her part to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard.
“It’s definitely mentally tougher because you’ve got to stay engaged when you’re not constantly getting shots on you,” she said. “So, it’s a little bit more difficult, but it’s just good to finally get that out of the way here.”
“Sometimes the shutouts that you don’t get a lot of action are the hardest to get,” Johnson said. “That was her first shutout as a member of our program. She’s certainly played long enough to have other shutouts, but it was meaningful for her. I think she was out playing the puck a lot. She was challenging herself to get better in spaces that she knows she can improve and that was what was really impressive to me.”
Overall, Johnson was pleased with the seven-goal offensive attack, but he still thinks his squad needs to make some improvements to close out the sweep tonight.
“We’re trusting that it will continue,” he said. “I thought their goaltender played fantastic. We had some great chances and eventually, I think we wore them down today. I think we could be a little more crisp on some of the spaces that we could shoot or pass to create the ideal opportunity instead of just the next available opportunity. Sometimes, we’re trying to do too much individually. Other times, it’s just how the game is played, but I’d like to see us be better.”