The Lakeland College Rustlers Women’s hockey team swept the SAIT Trojans in their opening playoff series, winning 3-0 and 5-2.
The Rustlers now prepare for the ACAC championship against the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens, who defeated the NAIT Ooks two games to one over the weekend.
Lakeland’s offense was led by Hailey Carothers, who scored a hat trick. The first period saw Carothers open the scoring on a power play at 16:20, assisted by Claudia Lammers and Brooklyn Salewski.
Carothers added another at 19:26 with an assist from Alyssa Shaw. Late in the third, Carothers completed her hat trick at 18:17 with assists from Salewski and Darby Robertson.
Lakeland outshot SAIT 51-12, and goaltender Shaye Thompson earned a 12-save shutout.
According to head coach, Morgan Mann, playoffs have drawn great fan support, creating an electric atmosphere.
“The atmosphere makes playing fun. That’s what the playoffs are all about,” said Mann.
During both games, members of other Lakeland teams made enough noise the officials moved them to another location around the glass.
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Game 2 Recap:
The second game was a 5-2 victory for Lakeland. After a scoreless first period, SAIT’s Aila Wik scored at 6:53 in the second, but Lakeland quickly responded. Alyssa Shaw tied it at 9:27, with assists from Lammers and Carothers. Late in the period, Darby Robertson scored on the power play at 19:52, assisted by Julianna Giacobbo and Calla Kampen.
SAIT tied it in the third with Wik’s second goal at 5:53, but Lakeland pulled away with three unanswered goals. Ava Cole scored on the power play at 8:00, followed by a shorthanded goal from Mackenzie Stafford at 13:42. Meanwhile, Addison Eurich sealed the win with a goal at 18:52.
Additionally, Lakeland outshot SAIT 35-19, and goaltender Mackenzie Gould-Sharpe made 17 saves for the win.
Mann is happy with how the weekend went.
“We were pleased with the outcome and it’s one step in the right direction now.”
Meanwhile, the team will now face Red Deer Polytechnic in the provincial championship. Mann says they aren’t surprised to be playing the Queens in the finals.
“We were expecting to play Red Deer. They’ve had a good second half and a lot of momentum.”
The team is preparing for a tight series, with Mann stating, “We’ll plan for game one. They’re always highly-contested games.”
“We’ll stick to our game and what makes us successful,” said Mann.
Lakeland will host the first three games of the best-of-five series. Game 1 is this Friday, March, 7, at 7 p.m. at the Russ Robertson Arena.
If Lakeland wins all three, the championship will be theirs. However, they aren’t looking to far ahead.
“We’ll just look to try and take Game 1,” said Mann.
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