Wronzberg nets OT winner versus Waterloo

TORONTO – For the first time in team history, the Ryerson Rams were victorious in overtime, defeating the Waterloo Warriors 3-2 on Thursday night.

BOXSCORE

Halfway into the overtime period, Ryerson set up shop in the Waterloo zone, moving the puck around with crisp passes. Finally, a shot from the point was blocked in front causing a scramble and third year centreman Melissa Wronzberg(Thornhill, Ont.) got a stick on the puck. Wronzberg was able to slide the puck past Waterloo goaltender Rebecca Bouwhuis and into the net sending the crowd at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens home happy.

“I kind of just shot it,” said Wronzberg. “Did not aim at all, just shot it and hoped for the best.”

It didn’t look good for the Rams going into the third period. After an Amy Barnard goal with under three minutes left in the second period, Waterloo had a 2-1 advantage going into the intermission. At 4:20 of the third period, Rams captainNella Brodett (Edmonton, Alta.) would find the equalizer, tying the game at two. Brodett finished the evening with a goal and an assist.

In the late stages of the game things got a little bit strange. A shot on goal by Waterloo had them thinking that they got it past Ryerson starting goaltender Emma Crawley and a celebration ensued. There was no signal from the referee that the puck went into the net, and Ryerson went down the ice in a 5-0 opportunity in which Samantha Pui (Toronto) was denied.

Although interim head coach Pierre Alain didn’t get a good look of the Waterloo opportunity from the bench, he did comment post-game.

“Once in a while you need a break, so I think we got a break.”

Emily Rose Galliani Pecchia (Toronto) scored shorthanded for Ryerson’s first goal. Galliani Pecchia was Ryerson’s leading scorer from last season and with the goal on Thursday night, recorded her second point in as many games.

“She was just forechecking hard and she was paying attention to the clock and she told me after she scored, there were 10 seconds left, I wasn’t going to play passive penalty kill, I just wanted to go for the goal,” said Brodett about Galliani Pecchia’s first period goal with 1.8 second left on the clock.

Crawley’s 19 saves were good enough to even her record on the season at .500 with three wins and three losses. Bouwhuis wasn’t tested much, only making 16 saves in the loss.

Both team’s struggled on the specialty teams. Ryerson went 0-5 while Waterloo was 0-4.

NOTES

– Throughout the entire game, Ryerson never managed more than seven shots in a period. This is something that members of the team say needs to be addressed. “We’re doing better moving the puck around the perimeter but now it’s focusing on getting those pucks on the net and those rebounds,” said Brodett. Wronzberg agrees, “I think we were hoping for more shots but at the same time we had really good control in their zone for most of the game.”

– Ryerson is next on the ice Saturday evening against the number five nationally ranked Laurier Golden Hawks. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens. Alain feels like his team still has a lot to work on to compete with a team like Laurier. “We need to improve our breakout. Under pressure we need to skate harder to help the support quicker and to collect information quicker.”