Paisley scores OT winner to top Tommies 3-2

Written by Joe Thomson

The Dalhousie Tigers defeated the St. Thomas Tommies 3-2 in overtime in women's hockey action at the Halifax Forum on Saturday night.

St. Thomas came out firing and managed to outshoot Dalhousie 7-1 in the early stages of the game. As the Tigers gradually ramped up the intensity, they managed to force the Tommies into a couple penalties that led to a 5-on-3 powerplay midway through the first. The Tommies survived and with two minutes to play in the period Natalie MacKay (Salmon River, NS) squeezed a puck past Dalhousie goaltender Grace Beer (Oakville, ON) to give the Tommies a 1-0 lead.

The second period was almost a duplicate of the first. Neither team was able to generate many quality scoring chances until the Tommies finally broke through with one minute remaining. Ekaterina Pelowich (Stouffville, ON) got the job done for St. Thomas, using a wraparound wrist shot to stretch the lead to two.

Dalhousie would not give up though, as Brooklyn Paisley (Shawnigan Lake, BC) found the back of the net less than a minute into the third period to bring the Tigers back within striking distance. The Tigers kept up their aggression and halfway through the period Emma Penner (Niagara on the Lake, ON) capitalized on a rebound to tie the game up. Neither team could break the stalemate in regulation as the game headed to overtime.

It didn't take long for the Tigers to find their hero as Paisley tucked a backhander behind St. Thomas goalie Caroline Pietroski (Etobicoke, ON) to give the Tigers the victory.

Paisley's two goal night was enough to earn her Subway Player of the Game honours.

With the win, Dalhousie moves to 11-8 on the season while St. Thomas drops to 6-15.

Both teams will now start preparing for Wednesday night when the Tigers face their cross-town rivals Saint Mary's who sit one spot ahead of them in the season standings. Meanwhile, the Tommies will host Mount Allison.