Women's Varsity Wins Slaats Cup in Double OT Thriller

The Women's NCAA team took on the College of St. Scholastica this Sunday afternoon in the Slaats Cup Finals at Arrington Ice Arena. The Bulldogs had defeated the Green Knights of St. Norbert College the weekend prior in the quarterfinal series and received a bye to the championship game as the #1 seed in the league. The Saints defeated the Lake Forest Foresters 3-0 on Friday night in Adrian before coming to the championship game Sunday afternoon.

The first period would go by scoreless between the two teams and it would be the Bulldogs who broke ice first with Jacqueline White notching her 9th of the season at the 7:14 mark of the second frame. Tory Harshman and Amanda Tomasek would assist. The Saints would tie things up almost exactly two minutes later, sending the two teams into the third tied 1-1.

The Bulldogs came away with a 2-1 lead with 9:47 gone in the third period with a goal from Brianna Buchanan. Rylee Bates would be awarded the lone assist. The Saints would tie things at two once again on the powerplay at the 14:34 mark of the third and neither team would find the back of the net for the remaining five minutes and change left in regulation.

Despite taking a dominating 10 shot lead and generating nearly as many scoring chances in the first overtime period, the Bulldogs would not find the back of the net and freshman netminder Denisa Jandova would stonewall all of the chances created by the Saints.

It would take 85:13 for a winner to be crowed as Buchanan came into the offensive zone on a rush with Maggie Mitter trailing, Buchanan would shot and send the puck over the shoulder of the Saints goalkeeper and send the Bulldogs off of the bench and into a Dawg pile in the far corner of the ice.

The victory this evening marks the fourth straight Slaats Cup victory for the Bulldogs, their fifth in team history and Head Coach Shawn Skelly's first Slaats Cup victory.

The Bulldogs now await the NCAA DIII Tournament Selection Show tomorrow morning to find out their fate in the upcoming National Tournament.