By Mike Still

The Dalhousie Tigers women’s hockey team enters the 2016 season looking to make the playoffs for a third consecutive season.

With a stable mix of veterans and newcomers, head coach Sean Fraser is confident in his team’s ability to make another push for the postseason in the highly competitive AUS conference.

“It’s nice, we’re finally not that young team anymore, and we have players in the system that get it,” says Fraser.

Dalhousie will be led defensively by fifth-year blue liner Laura Brooks, who led the AUS conference in goals last season with five. Additionally, Rachel Carr, Kayla Ogilvie and Andrea Lyon will all be key instruments on the defensive end. All four players are entering a minimum of their fourth year of eligibility.

“For a few years we were really young on defence and we didn’t have any veterans. Now we have two fifth-years and a handful of fourth-years, so that’s good on the defensive side of things,” Fraser said.

Between the posts, the Tigers have a variety of options. Third-year goaltender Jessica Severeyns led the squad in wins last season with seven victories in 12 starts, while fifth-year ‘tender Mati Barrett will also provide quality leadership and poise between the pipes.

Additionally, rookie Fabiana Petricca – who spent the last two seasons in the Provincial Women’s Hockey League and posted over a .900 save percentage in each of her two seasons – will be an added asset.

Having a solid mixture in net will greatly help the Tigers in limiting their goals against.

“We’re pretty comfortable with any of our goaltenders,” Fraser said.

“We have a base right now with a first, third and fifth-year, but our third and fifth have both certainly proven they can hold us in games when we need them to and it gives our first-year time to develop.”

Offensively, forward Lisa Maclean is back for her fourth year. She was second on the team last season with 15 points, despite having her 2015-16 campaign cut short due to injury.

“The loss of Lisa Maclean, the first game back was a big blow, but it gave some other people an opportunity,” Fraser said.

“People that were in their first and second seasons last year got to play some minutes that they otherwise wouldn’t have, especially in situations like the power play and penalty kill, which hopefully will pay off this year.”

Fellow forwards Jennifer Thompson, Courtney Sheedy and Elizabeth MacArthur – all entering their fourth years of eligibility will also bring a veteran presence to the lineup.

In terms of new recruits, forward Ashley Money and defence Annika Rose were highlighted by Fraser as players that have stood out in the pre-season.

Money was a valuable asset to the Burlington Barracudas in 2015-16 as an alternate captain, while Rose is a former member of the Pursuit of Excellence Hockey Academy U19 prep team in Kelowna B.C. where she recorded 12 points in 32 games during the 2014-15 season.

In Rose’s two seasons with the academy, she helped lead the team to a silver medal in 2014 and bronze medal in 2015 at the Female World Sport School Challenge. 

In terms of the season as a whole, Dalhousie is looking to advance past the first round and make a significant playoff run. With that in mind however, Fraser’s focus is breaking the season down into smaller segments and growing as a team as the year progresses.

“We want to get off to a good start this year, that’s something we’ve struggled with the past few years,” Fraser said.

“We’re kind of breaking it down into four-game segments and that can certainly set the tone for the rest of the year.”