STUTOMMIES.COM

FISU Development camp information

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:32:00 +0000

For those of you that have been asking about the AUS/FISU Development Camp going on at the Grant-Harvey Centre this weekend, please see the information below as noted in the Friday March 29th edition of the Daily Gleaner.

A pair of inter-squad games, open to the public, highlight the Saturday calendar, with the first game from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. and the second from 9 to 10:45 p.m.

The camp wraps up Sunday with the third inter-squad game of the weekend from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m. Admission for each game is $5, which helps defray the cost of the camp.

There are some great AUS players involved in this camp so come on out.

Friday night's action was played on the NHL ice surface but today's will be held on the Olympic ice.

Hope to see you there.

2012-2013 Tommies Men's Hockey Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:14:00 +0000

Some people would say this season for the Men's Hockey Tommies was a write off because they are looking at the wins and loss column, but from this fan's perspective I disagree. Yes the team only had three wins on the year but they were three of the most exciting wins in hockey. We got to see a beat down of UdeM on the road, in a building that is always hard for road teams to get a "W" in, we got to see a shootout win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men (Also one of the best Christmas presents ever for Tommies fans, it was right before the holiday break) and a win over the Dalhousie Tigers in a close game right after the holiday break which gave the guys a two game winning streak at home.

The guys had their struggles through the season don't get me wrong, losing long-time Tommie, Mike Reich was certainly a loss to the team. Anytime an experienced veteran and leader in the dressing room leaves it can certainly leave a void in the team atmosphere. Mike left the program though to persue his career in the business world though and no-one can fault him for that, Mike realized the opportunity and how it was going to work out for him long-term, also that he was getting a chance to go back to his home province of Saskatchewan. After getting in contact with Mike he said that things are going great, his new job is awesome and that he is part of another great team, he is learning his new role and that things are falling into place now. He is still strapping on the skates and is currently playing for two different Senior teams, one to qualify for the Allan Cup and another regular league team. Mike has been spending the little bit of free time he has from work and hockey to look for a new home.

Along with Reich moving on, Coach Troy Ryan did have to make a few roster moves to keep the team environment in the dressing room. The Tommies released forward Alex Leduc and goaltender Justin Collier, two good hockey players that were not buying into the Tommies program of hard work and team work. With the release of Collier, Coach Ryan picked up Fredericton native Tyler Piercy, who did see some playing time throughout the second half of the season. After the release of Leduc, the Tommies chose not to persue any other players for the '12-'13 season and put all of their attention into recruiting players for the '13-'14 season.

The Rookies, Tommies fans were treated to an awesome class of Freshmen talent this season, starting with goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde who stood on his head from the beginning of the season till the last minute of the last game and was chosen as the AUS All-Rookie Goaltender. Groenheyde was ninth in the CIS for Minutes Played and third in Saves, these are impressive stats all things considered. Colin Martin from the London Knights started the season with the guys but suffered an upper body injury at the beginning of the second half and was not able to return for the remainder of the season, this was a big loss to the team as the forward had really turned it on at the end of the first half. Jordan Thomas the defenseman, who came to STU from the Metro Marauders of the Martime Hockey League. Jordan was a welcome addition to the blue-line this year, and led the teams +/- for the amount of games he played. Matthew Hobbs arrived to the Tommies from the QMJHL this past fall and has proven himself to be a very disciplined blue-liner, collecting only eight penalty minutes on the season and Nick Brown also a rookie D-man from Fredericton came to the Tommies from the MHL Dieppe Commandos, Nick played 25 straight games and registered his first AUS point in the last game of the regular season against UPEI. Marc-Andre Levesque was a nice addition to the team this year, playing all 28 games during the season, Levesque picked up 6 points during the season, one goal and five assists for the rookie.

The Sophmores, John MacDonald, this guy has shins of steel! MacDonald blocked shots all season long and showed absolutely no fear when it came to standing in front of some of the hardest shots in the AUS, he hobbled to the bench a few times but always came back for his next shift. Robert Zandbeek was another forward that showed no fear to stand in front shots. Stephen Sanza, who lead the team in points this season with 19, played hard in all 28 games this season. In the last home game of the season against UdeM he came back to the bench between shifts soaking his hand in a bucket of ice water to stay in the game. Jonathan Bonneau, who also played in all 28 games finished the season with 14 points and third in this column for the Tommies, the fast moving forward and breakout specialist had great moves against opposing teams. If it were my choice to hand out the “Most Sportsmanlike” award to me, it would have been given to Tommies Sophmore Captain Felix Poulin, the captain started every game by going out of his way to shake the hands of each of the Referees and Linesmen, the offensive minded defenseman, lead the blue-liners in scoring and only collected 20 minutes in penalties. Sebastien Bernier, collected 5 points on the season with two goals and three assists, the “Stay at Home” defenseman played all 28 games for the Tommies.

The Juniors, Christian Morin spent most of the second half of the season injured with an upper body injury, was certainly a loss of experience on the blue line this season. Yuri Cheremetiev stepped it up and played out of position most of the season on defense, he did a great job on the blue line and was quick to get back on the play and had one of the most exciting goals this hockey fan has ever watched in his shoot out goal against the St. FX X-Men before the holiday break with a back-handed toe drag to beat X-Men goaltender Joey Perricone. Randy Cameron was set to have a great season unfortunately was injured early in the season and this kept him out for most of the campaign, it will be great to have him back in the line-up next year at 100%. Kyell Henegan scored his first goal of his CIS career this year against the X-Men in their December 1st home win, the big forward had some big hits this season and also had his career high in points.

The Seniors, In a comment from team captain Felix-Antoine Poulin, he praised dressing room leaders Chris Morehouse and Alex Labonte for leading the younger players through the rough patch and being supportive to the cause. It's sad to see these veterans leave the Tommies this year as they are both gritty forwards who haven't been afraid to dig in the corners and get rough if need be. Still one of the most impressive instances I have seen in a long time was the Mark Jeffrey Memorial game at the AUC when Morehouse and Matt Fillier got into a bit of a tussle and Fillier dropped the gloves and had four punches on Morehouse, Morehouse knew the importance of not dropping the gloves and taking the suspension when the bench was at its shortest of the season. Morehouse stuck it out and played the bigger man and put the "T" in team and Tommies. Alex Labonte came out flying in his last regular season game at home, scoring two goals in his last home game as a Tommie.
In a great touch by head coach Troy Ryan, Matt Eagles dressed for the last game of the regular season, he came out and warmed up with the team, and accepted his Lou Chabot award from his father and Athletic Director Mike Eagles, when he was returning to the bench to watch the game Coach Ryan told him to turn around and take the opening face-off, Eagles won the face-off quite handsomely at that getting it back to the blue line, allowing him to skate back to the bench and leave the game on his own terms.

So begins the long off-season and more rebuilding and recruiting of our Tommies. Stay tuned for info as it comes in we will do our best to keep you in the loop. Can't wait to see everyone at the Grant/Harvey Centre in October for the beginning of the regular season.

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

Tommies guns fall silent for the season

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 23:08:00 +0000

This is a hard one to write this evening, so many mixed emotions. On one hand so proud of our entire hockey team for having such a great season but on the other so disappointed with how the final game went. The Tommies never stopped fighting for even a minute but it wasn't enough to pull out one last victory for our 5th year seniors.

If there was one thing you could point a finger at and say "that did in the Tommies", it was the powerplay. St. Thomas played one full period when you add it all up with the extra attacker and failed to score. Perhaps this should come as no surprise, or perhaps it should but the team has not scored a powerplay marker since January 13th versus MTA. Over a full month of futility, ouch.

The game got off on the wrong foot in the first minute for STU. Saint Mary's Katilyn Abbass came in on Julia Shaurn and fired the puck off of her before it bounced out to a waiting Rebecca Mosher to pot the only goal of the opening two periods only 20 seconds into the game.

The Huskies - true to their reputation statistically speaking - started to lay the body and enforce a physical presence against the Tommies. It resulted in a steady stream of SMU players to the penalty box, which in retrospect, didn't seem to bother the Huskies. After one period STU outshot SMU 9 to 7 and after two periods 20 to 10.

The third period saw the Tommies come out strong and hard but with no success beating Sienna Cooke in the Huskies net. SMU would get an insurance goal on the powerplay at 5:50 when Brianna Soper sniped a top corner gino past a helpless Julia Sharun.

The Tommies rallied late when Jordan Miller (Blackmore, Marcelline) got STU on the board with 2:25 to play. There was hope and St. Thomas continued to press but ultimately could not find the equalizer. The Huskies scored into the empty net with 11 seconds remaining to sink any hope of the comeback.

Final shots on goal were 37 to 15 for the Tommies.

It was a successful season overall with the Tommies having more wins than they ever have, being nationally ranked for the first time in team history, and finishing the season higher in the standings than ever before.

Thank you to St. Thomas' all-time leading point producer in Kayla Blackmore, to super D-Woman Courtney Fox, and an incredible keeper in Julia Sharun. You guys have been amazing and it has been a pleasure to follow you for all these years. I am so going to miss you. Such great talents. All the best in everything you do and I don't need to see a banner to know that each one of you are Champions, you are to me and to many other Tommie fans.

Game Day - Tommies vs. Huskies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 12:52:00 +0000

Here are a few things you should know about today's playoff game between the SMU Huskies and STU Tommies.

Game time 3PM. Live on AUSTV at www.austv.ca

The Tommies were 3 and 1 versus the Huskies in the regular season but all the games were very close. STU won the first match up at Alumni Arena in overtime 2 to 1.

The next game at the Grant-Harvey Centre STU won 3 - 2. The Tommies had been up 3 to 0 before the Huskies roared back with 2 third period markers to make it close.

The Tommies would find themselves up 2 to 0 going into the third period of their third regular season game before the Huskies scored 3 goals in the final period for a 3 to 2 win. It was the first loss of a three game losing streak, the longest of the season for STU.

The final game at the GHC was a 2 - 0 win with Julia Sharun playing lights out to preserve the victory.

Bottom line, don't take the Huskies mildly, this team is for real. Just ask Moncton and ST-FX, who's only loss this season was to SMU.

Wants some keys to the game?

Watch the referee. He/she will control the setting this afternoon. SMU grew in size this year and they like to take liberties when throwing the body. They had the most PIM's in the league this year by a wide margin and for good reason, they play on the edge. (269 minutes for SMU. 198 for UPEI)

The Tommies can't get pushed around but they can't retaliate and get out of position either. Our western Tommies like McTaggart, Miller, and Apperson are going to have to stand their ground and make the right plays while counter acting SMU's rough stuff.

Saint Mary's powerplay was second in the league but was really average, being marginally better than Moncton, UPEI, and MTA. Penalty kill, the same thing, very good but average in the league. Here is the rub. STU's PK and PP absolutely suck. Our PP is the worst by far and our PK isn't far off from the bottom. Special teams could burn us badly - if the stats are telling the truth - so keep it 5 on 5 and we will win.

SMU has a hard time scoring. Keep them to the outside and keep them off the powerplay. The Tommies have to roll their lines 5 on 5 and the top two lines have to produce. The third line needs to contribute a goal and bring the toughness and the fourth line has to play even. I don't have to tell you what Sharun has to do and as sure as the sun will rise, so will Julia.

Here are the team stats from the AUS so you can make your own decisions.

GO TOMMIES GO

Tommies defeat UdeM in Game 1

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:34:00 +0000

(SACKVILLE, N.B.) - The St. Thomas Tommies used strong offence from their top line to steer them to a hard fought 3-2 victory over the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleues in the opening game of the 2013 Subway AUS women's hockey championship on Thursday afternoon.

Kayla Blackmore and Jordan Miller each recorded a goal and an assist, with Blackmore's game-winning marker coming with just under two minutes remaining in the second period.

Moncton opened the scoring at 4:18 of the first when Amelie Lariviere's shot fooled Julia Sharun high glove side, but Saint Thomas wasted no time responding, with two quick goals.

Blackmore tied up the Moncton defence in front of the Aigles Bleues' net, allowing Miller to be left all alone for the Tommies' first goal, which came only 1:15 after Lariviere's goal.

Just 1:11 after the Miller goal, Katie Brewster [actually it was Kelty Apperson, with D. Miller and Brewster assisting] scored an almost identical goal to give the Tommies the lead. Moncton would tie the game up again on a rebound shot in close from Elisa Savoie in the second period, but were unable to put much additional pressure on Sharun and the Tommies throughout the remaining 22 minutes.

Sharun stopped 12 shots for the win, but only one save was needed on a long 5-on-3 advantage that Moncton had midway through the third. Some spectacular penalty-killing by Saint Thomas allowed them to maintain their lead and kill the clock en route to the win.

Kayla Blackmore was named the Subway Player of the Game for the Tommies, while Jenna Van Belois was selected as the Moncton player of the game, making 24 saves in goal.

Saint Thomas, by virtue of the regulation win, earns 3 points in the round robin standings, and will get the day off Friday before facing the Saint Mary's Huskies on Saturday afternoon.

Moncton will play Saint Mary's Friday afternoon at 3:00pm to try and extend their season to Sunday's championship final.
Source: Mount Allison Sports Information

Tommie's end season with win

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 04:01:00 +0000

The St. Thomas Tommies ended the 2012-13 season the same way they started it, with a win against UdeM. Graduating seniors Kayla Blackmore, Courtney Fox, and Julia Sharun had strong games and rookie Kenya Marcelline had a four point night to propell STU onto a 4 - 1 victory.

Kayla Blackmore scores the game's first goal.
Photo Courtesy Dylan Buell

Blackmore got things rolling for STU in the first period taking a centering feed from Kenya Marcelline for an early lead at 5:59. Jordan Miller picked up the second assist with the hard work down low. It was the only goal of the period in which U de M out shot STU 7 to 5.

The second STU goal at 4:57 of the second frame was a pretty give and go between Blackmore and Marcelline where Kayla finished with a top shelf goal past Emily Bouchard in the Moncton net. Stephanie Gates would pad the Tommie's lead at 13:24. Marcelline would get the puck to McTaggart down low, who would come out from behind the net to get a shot before Gates buried the rebound for a 3 - 0 lead.

Courtney Fox had 1 assist tonight for STU
Photo Courtesy Dylan Buell

Kenya Marcelline would put the game out of reach at 10:05 burying a great pass from Blackmore and Jordan Miller. U de M would break Sharun's shut out bid with 1:20 to play on the power play as Felicia Anctil wired a wrist shot for Moncton's only goal.

Final score was 4 to 1 with STU out shooting UdeM 27 - 21. Players of the game were the three seniors Blackmore, Fox, and Sharun.

With their fifth win in a row STU heads to the playoffs next weekend in Sackville with a team record 16 wins and second place finish. Their opponents in next weekend's tournament have not been decided.

Julia Sharun was strong in net tonight only allowing
one goal on twenty-one shots.
Photo Courtesy Dylan Buell

Tommies clinch 2nd with win over Mounties

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 02:26:00 +0000

For the second game in a row, the St. Thomas Tommies pull out a much needed win with a 1 - 0 victory. Tonight on the road over the Mount Allison Mounties. A late third period goal by rookie Kenya Marcelline was the only puck to dent the twine and Kristin Wolfe picked up her second shut out of the season versus the Mounties.

The first and second periods were scoreless affairs, if not for the goalies, definitely because of the goal posts as STU and MTA combined for six doses of iron. Shots after two periods were 13 to 13.

In the final period Mount Allison and St. Thomas traded powerplay chances with one each. In what proved to be a wise decision, Coach Murphy called a late time out with 1:53 to play. He must of said something good because 39 seconds later the Tommies would pot the winner.

Kenya Marcelline would score her third goal of the year, none larger than this one, at 18:43 to lift the Tommies to the one goal victory. Kayla Blackmore was credited with the only assist.

Kristin Wolfe would make the goal stand up as the winner, stopping all 21 shots fired her way. STU shot 22 at MTA's Kate O'Brien, with number 22 (Marcelline's number) being the deadliest.

With the win STU clinches second position in the AUS and will return home for their final home game this Saturday night against Moncton. Come out to the game and help the Tommies support Mental Health Awareness.

Tommies trump Panthers

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:33:00 +0000

Our fifth year veterans were the difference tonight as the St. Thomas Tommies defeated the UPEI Panthers 1 - 0 in a rare Monday night AUS game. Captain Kayla Blackmore scored the game winning goal and Julia Sharun made it stand up picking up her fifth shutout of the season to help STU solidify second place in the AUS.

In a battle of goaltenders between STU's Julia Sharun and UPEI's Marie Deschenes, the only goal was scored shorthanded at 13:33 of the first period. Dani Miller blocked a shot close to the Tommies blue line and pushed the puck forward to centre ice where Kayla Blackmore won a foot race and went in all alone and deposited a backhander for a 1 - 0 Tommies lead. Shots favoured UPEI 8 to 7 in the period.

UPEI was shorthanded for 8 of the 20 minutes in the second period but Deschene held the fort for the Panthers. Shots were 12 to 5 for STU.

The third period was scoreless, as Julia Sharun preserved the big four point night for STU. Final shots were 33 to 22 for the Tommies. STU's powerplay was 0 for 9 but their penalty kill was 4 for 4 plus scored the winning goal.

The Tommies will look to clinch their second place spot on Wednesday night when they travel to Sackville to take on the MT A Mounties. Game time is 8 PM.

2012-13 season comes to an end with loss to Panthers

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:59:00 +0000

The UPEI Panthers scored one goal in the first period, one goal in the second period, and three in the third to defeat the Tommies 5 to 1 tonight in Charlottetown. Robert Zandbeek scored STU's only goal mid way through the third to make it 3 to 1 at the time but that was as close as the Tommies could get.

Jon Groenheyde was a rock in the STU net facing 34 shots on the night. At least 3 of the Panther's goals were odd man rushes where the goalie had no chance at all. On at least three occasions, probably more, Groenheyde made unbelievable saves to keep STU close. BOX SCORE

Without question, STU's MVP for this year will be Jon Groenheyde. When every other player would have quit, Jon played through it and put in unbelievable effort even after the score was well out of reach. It was a real treat to watch him play this year. Kudos to @JonnyG3141

Storylines.......

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 22:49:00 +0000

Lou Chabot's #26 hanging in the rafters at GHC.

Today the Tommies Men's Hockey team faced off against UdeM in a game that had a few different storylines in it.

First, today was the annual Lou Chabot memorial game, this was the nineteenth. A game in which the Tommies celebrate the life of a fallen teammate that passed away at the young age of 22. Lou's mother was at the rink today in town from Ottawa for the game and the ceremonial puck drop. The winners of the Lou Chabot award are Matt Eagles #36, Alex Labonte #4, and Chris Morehouse #18. This leads us into the second story of the day.

Second story of the are graduating players who played their last home game as Tommies, Matt Eagles #36, Alex Labonte#4 and Chris Morehouse #18.

The Third Story, Matt Eagles, one of the graduating Tommies and former Captain of the team who was forced to stop playing due to medical reasons was dressed for today's game wearing number 22, but it was pretty easy to tell who it was, he was smiling ear to ear during the warm-up, he was smiling ear to ear during the pre-game ceremony, even smiling in the third period when defenseman Nick Brown took a Checking From Behind penalty and was given a 2 minute penalty and a 10 minute misconduct, in which Eagles served the 2 minute infraction.

The first period started with the Tommies opening up the scoring 27 seconds into the game, Alex Labonte had the first goal assisted by Chris Morehouse and Jonathan Bonneau. UdeM lead the Tommies on shots on goal 13-10. STU held UdeM scoreless through the first period.

The second period started with UdeM scoring their first marker of the game just over a minute into the period and adding another just over 5 minutes in. UdeM lead the shots on goal 11-5. At the end of the second period UdeM was up 2-1.

The third period started with the Tommies adding another goal at 2:55 off the stick of Alex Labonte's the goal was assisted by Yuri Cheremetiev and Stephen Sanza. This tied the game up, unfortunately this was as close the Tommies were able to get to winning the game. UdeM started to pour on the offence after this adding another four goals in the period, the last two goals in which one was scored on an empty net where Matt Hobbs was doing everything he could to keep the puck out of the net and the last one which was scored with under one second left in the game. UdeM had 10 shots on goal to STU's 7.

The final score of the game was 6-2, this marks the Tommies last home game of the season, they are on the road next weekend against UPEI on February 8, 2013 at 7pm.

Good-luck to the graduating Tommies in your future endeavours! You three have made Tommies hockey exciting to watch over the last few years.

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

It's All About The Positives!!!

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Most of you would think I would start with the score of the game?? Maybe the shots on goal?? How about short bench?? Nope not going to start my post with any of these items.

I'm going to start my post with how the Tommies came out of the gate looking like a team that wanted a to show the Squirrels they were not to be messed with. The Tommies looked to set the pace of the game by playing dump and chase, which slowed the pace of the game but narrowed the playing field.

The Tommies hung in the entire first period holding the V-Reds off the score board and keeping the shots on goal to. A manageable level 9-5. Also I'm going to mention that the first period was penalty free for both squads.

The second period started with the Squirrels putting lots of pressure on Tommies goal keeper Jonathan Groenheyde, they had 15 shots on goal to 1 from the Tommies. The period also started with the game's first penalty with UNB going to the box for roughing, this opened the flood gates for the steady path to the sin bin for the Squirrels. At the end of the second period the the V-Reds lead the game 1-0. This is another positive for the Tommies, holding the V-Reds to one goal.

The third period started with the Tree Rats scoring early and adding four more in, in the period. Felix Poulin scored the Tommies first goal of the game very late in the period which snapped the scoreless streak against the Reds, at 119 minutes. The goal which was a beauty of a backhand by Poulin was assisted by Randy Cameron and Stephen Sanza. Also another positive, the guys didn't give up and kept driving to the net. At the end of the third period UNB had 10 shots to STU's four.

The final score of the game was 5-1 for UNB, the final shots on goal were 34 to 10, the penalties were certainly in the Tommies favour with UNB having 8 penalties totalling 16 minutes (including an un-sportsmanlike call for Cam Braes for Diving and a double minor for Nick MacNeill for Roughing) to the Tommies 5 penalties totalling 10 minutes.

The Tommies were only missing Colin Martin and Christian Morin from the line-up, the Squirrels started two guys that normally watch from the stands in Chad Denny and Stefan Salituro.

The Tommies have one more home game this season against the UdeM Aigles Bleu on Sunday at 2pm at the G/H Centre for the annual Lou Chabot game. C'mon out and support your STU Tommies.

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

Round 4 Vs. The Squirrels-Preview

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 02:58:00 +0000

This Friday, February 1st @ 7pm, the UNB Varsity Squirrels come into the Grant Harvey Centre for the fourth round of the "Battle of the Hill". The game will be the second time the Squirrels have played at the G/H Centre this season.

In the first tilt at the G/H Centre, UNB took the Tommies down 6-1. The V-Reds have been a tough team to solve this year out scoring the Tommies 18-3 this season. This number is not to scare anyone but it is a fact of the stats. It certainly doesn't mean that the Tommies aren't giving it their "all" but the shortened bench has been a factor.

The injury bug has certainly bit the team hard over the last few weeks, both defenceman Christian Morin and forward Colin Martin will be out for this weekend and on the doubtful list are forwards Jonathan Bonneau, Robert Zandbeek and a pair of rookie defencemen Jordan Thomas, Nick Brown.

Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde #31 is coming off a game in which he stood on his head to keep our Tommies in the game against the Acadia Axemen where he faced 70 shots on net and only allowing 4 goals. I'm sure he will be ready to do it again on Friday night against the Squirrels.

The Tommies are going to need the "7th Man" loud in the stands to show the Tree Rats we aren't afraid of them and stop them from trying to build a nest in our trench! Bring your noise makers and be prepared to make lots of noise to scare the Squirrels off.

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

Panthers squeak past Tommies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:13:00 +0000

In a playoff style game tonight in Charlottetown, the UPEI Panthers scored a first period goal past Julia Sharun and held on for a 1 - 0 win over the Tommies. This was no small game either, as UPEI now sits two points back of the Tommies for second place and they have 2 games in hand. After a terrible start to the season, the defending AUS Champion Panthers are now 9 and 1 in their past 10 games.

No boxscore is available over 30 minutes after the end of the game so I can't tell you much other than UPEI led in shots 22 to 21. Emily Ryan, Emily Francis, and Caley Steinert were all out of the lineup tonight.

STU will not be back in action for two weeks when they take on the Mount Allison Mounties on Feb. 9th in Sackville. On the 10th the Panthers will come to the Grant-Harvey for a rematch of tonight's game. Should be a good one.

Groenheyde amazing in Tommies loss

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 01:58:00 +0000

How many letters in the word amazing? By my count ten and you spell it G-R-O-E-N-H-E-Y-D-E. The beleaguered STU goaltender faced 70 shots (EN goal was 71) in a 5 to 2 defeat at the hands of the Acadia Axemen tonight in Wolfville.

If not for the "Groenheyde" work of the STU goaltender the game could have easily of been 10 to 2 or worse. It would be super easy here to cut up the entire Tommies team in front of him but by the end of the night the 12 skaters on the ice for St. Thomas had nothing left in the tank.

After allowing 3 goals in the first period the Tommies made it close in the middle frame with goals from Jon Bonneau and Alex Labonte. Acadia scored their fourth goal midway through the third period to seal the win and an empty netter for good measure. The Axemen had 29, 12, and 30 shots respectively through three periods of play.

Acadia gave Groenheyde first star honours in facing 70 shots, even though their own player, Mike Cazzola, scored a hat trick. A real classy move, kudos to them!

You really have to think that Groenheyde has to get some consideration for the AUS Rookie Team that will be announced in March. I realize that St-FX's Drew Owsley has better statistics but he also has a better team in front of him. But to be honest I have little faith in the AUS considering Felix Poulin should have been on it last year without question and was not. We'll see.

Tigers roll over Tommies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:26:00 +0000

In AUS men's hockey action from Halifax, the Dalhousie Tigers jumped out to a 3 to 1 first period lead and added two more unanswered goals in the second, as they cruised to a 5 to 2 win over the Tommies.

Sebastien Bernier (Zandbeek-Poulin) and Steve Sanza (Bernier-Labonte) were the Tommies scorers in the first and third periods respectively.

DAL out shot the Tommies 33-30. STU was 1 for 4 on the PP.

The Tommies move on to Wolfville tomorrow to face the Acadia Axemen at 7:00PM.

Tommies take down Huskies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Julia Sharun picked up her 4th shut out of the season
this afternoon versus the SMU Huskies.
Photo Courtesy Dylan Buell

With a hat trick of Tommies' players having a big game this afternoon, St. Thomas defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 2 to 0. Jordan Miller and Cassidy McTaggart each had two points and Julia Sharun earned her fourth shut out of the season.

The first period was uneventful with no goals being scored. Saint Mary's did not register their first shot on net until the 12 minute mark of the period, as STU out shot SMU 9 to 4 in the first.

Cassidy McTaggart would score the eventual game winning tally at 15:03 of the second period with the helpers to Jordan Miller and Erin MacIsaac. Sharun closed the door on 10 Huskies shots in the period while STU fired 9 the other way.

St. Thomas would get a little insurance at 4:09 of third. SMU's goalie Sienna Cooke made a nice save on Jordan Miller that resulted in a face off to her right. Cassidy McTaggart won the draw back to Paige MacDonald, who promptly sent a perfect pass to a waiting Jordan Miller at the side of the SMU net and fired a quick shot for a two goal Tommies advantage.

The Huskies would pull their goalie late in the third period trying to get on the board but Julia Sharun was up to the task and denied everything that was thrown her way the rest of the game. Final shots on goal favoured STU 30 to 27.

The win was huge as the Huskies sat 1 point behind the Tommies for second in the AUS standings at the start of the game. STU now has a 3 point advantage on SMU and 4 points on UPEI, who they play next Saturday night in Charlottetown.

Pressing Offense

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 02:41:00 +0000

The Tommies Men's hockey drove the net hard all night, leading the UPEI Panthers 31-29 in shots. UPEI led the goal column though beating the Tommies 7-2.

Tonight is a case where the goal column did not tell the whole story, the Tommies opened the scoring in the first period on a goal from Robert Zandbeek #21 (Morehouse#18, Poulin#8), the Panthers answered back though scoring a pair of goals also in the first from Dana Fraser#12 (MacIssac#19, Desousa#28) and Mike MacIssac#19 (Brown#26, Fraser#12). The Tommies led the period in shots though 11-10.

The second period started with UPEI scoring another pair of goals off the sticks of Dana Fraser#12 (Brenton#57, MacIssac#19) and Travis MacIssac#18 (Knox#9, Desousa#28). The Tommies did score a powerplay marker though, Yuri Cheremetiev#9 (Morehouse#18, Hobbs#12) making the score 4-2 after 2 periods of play for UPEI. The Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde#31 was visibly frustrated after breaking his stick on the cross-bar. The shots at the end of the period were 13-9 for the Tommies.

The third period opened with a scoring onslaught from UPEI picking up three goals in a matter of four and a half minutes. Tyler Brown#26 (MacIssac#14, Taylor#3), Mike MacIssac#14 (Fraser#12, Brenton#57), Cole MacMillian#79 (McQuaid#89, McCullough#4). Shortly after the last goal was scored Tommies goaltender Groenheyde#31 was replaced by Fredericton native Tyler Piercy #35, who faced and stopped four shots in the remaining minutes of the third period. The shots at the end of the third period were 10-7 for UPEI, the only time all evening that UPEI led the shots column.

It was a tough night for the Tommies this evening, the biggest positive that came from tonight's game was the amount of shots the Tommies were able to get on UPEI goaltender Wayne Savage#1. Savage was tough to solve, bailing out the Panthers on 29 of 31 shots the Tommies put his way.

The Tommies are facing the Dalhousie Tigers on January 25 and Acadia Axemen on January 26, both games are on the road before the Tommies come back to Fredericton to play their two remaining home games of the '12-13' season versus the Squirrels on February 1 and UdeM on February 3 in the annual Lou Chabot game.

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

X-Women complete season sweep of Tommies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 22:25:00 +0000

Another case of deja vu this afternoon as the Tommies lost 3 to 1 against the St-FX X-Women. STU open the scoring for the fourth time in four games this season versus X and took it to the X-Women in the opening five minutes of play, only to have them roar back and win the game.

Today it was Kayla Blackmore's turn to open the scoring for the Tommies at 3:35. Dani Miller drew the only assist as she worked hard to get the puck to the front of the net and whacked away it before Kayla was able to bang it home in a furious scramble in front of the X goal keeper.

STU's Amy Duffield would draw a tripping call at 5:53 and the X-Women would make the Tommies pay, as they scored at 6:11 to knot the game at ones. There would be no more scoring in the period.

You have to give credit to the Tommies, as they hung tough with St-FX for most of the game, but X would score the eventual game winning goal with under 2 minutes to play in the second period as Catherine Civitarese slipped one past Kristin Wolfe in the the STU net.

In the third period the Tommies came precariously close to tying the game as Katie Brewster raced down the left wing side and fired a bullet off the crossbar. Of course, as luck would have it, X brought the puck back down ice and would score at 8:30 to make it 3 to 1.

STU had several powerplay chances after the goal to get closer but the X-Women shut the door.

Final shots on goal favoured St-FX 33 to 22. Kristin Wolfe was solid in the loss.

Comeback falls short in Moncton

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 01:53:00 +0000

After falling behind U de M 5 to 1 early in the second period, the Tommies pushed hard to come back but fell short 5 to 4. As short staffed as STU is, there is no quit in this team and they battled hard right to the very end.

This evening in Moncton, U de M scored two goals in the first 2:23 of the opening period and again at 10:23 for a three goal lead. Alex Labonte fed a nice pass to Felix Poulin, who was all alone in front, to cut the lead to two. Moncton scored at 13:41 to regain the three goal advantage and would take that to the locker room after the first period. Shots were 14 to 4 for U de M.

The Tommies would have a power play to start the second period but it was Moncton shorthanded that scored at the 51 second mark for a 5 to 1 lead. Jon Groenheyde would come up big a few times in the remainder of the period as U de M would take the four goal lead to the final period.

Either U de M feel asleep in the third period or the short bench Tommies put together one of their best periods of the season. Steve Sanza (Zandbeek, Cameron) scored at 4:14 to cut the lead to three, then Rob Zandbeek scored from a bad angle at 8:47 to make it 5 to 3.

St. Thomas pressed and missed several good chances in the final 10 minutes. Yuri Cheremetiev (MacDonald, Morehouse) would make a beauty rush late in the third and score the highlight of the night at 18:31 but STU couldn't find the tying goal and ended up dropping the game 5 to 4 despite the strong comeback effort. STU outshot Moncton 16 to 7 in the third.

The Tommies come back to Fredericton tonight and will take on UPEI tomorrow at 7 PM. The Panthers dropped an overtime heartbreaker to UNB tonight 3 to 2. UPEI was up 2 to 0 at one point in the game.

There's Always Tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:49:00 +0000

Tonight the Tommies had a hard game against the Squirrels at the Aitken Centre, in the annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial game, UNB beat the Tommies 7-0.

The Tommies playing with the short bench tonight was certainly a key contributor in the loss, Christian Morin #2, Jordan Thomas #6, and Colin Martin #19 were all out of the line up. Yuri Cheremetiev #9 setup on the blue line tonight to help out the depleted defense.

I'm only going to write about the positives that I watched tonight, the score speaks for itself.

The Tommies were strong on their penalty kill all evening, giving the V-Reds five power plays and not allowing them to score on any of them. Jonathan Groenheyde #31 turned away 43 of the Squirrels shots, and made some amazing saves in the process.

The Tommies did have some problems staying out of the box, including 3 in the first 8 minutes of the game, towards the end of the game it did get quite chippy. I have to commend Tommies forward Chris Morehouse #18, while taking punches from V-Reds forward Matt Fillier #27 (with gloves off), Morehouse did not drop his gloves or stick, he did take a 10 minute misconduct for roughing.

The Tommies face off with UdeM Aigles Bleus (Last game vs. STU was a 4-1 win Tommies) on the road on Friday night and are back home on Saturday night at the Grant/Harvey Centre versus the UPEI Panthers (Last game vs. STU was a 4-3 win Panthers).

Murph

WyldeMurph on Twitter

Hunting for a "W" at the Squirrel's Nest

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 23:39:00 +0000

So after a big win on Friday night against the Dalhousie Tigers (2-1) and a rough loss to the Acadia Axemen (6-3) on Saturday night, the St. Thomas Tommies Men's Hockey Team is going into the Squirrel's nest Wednesday night for the annual Mark Jeffrey Memorial game against UNB. The Squirrels are coming into the game on a win over the X-Men (5-2) and a loss to the surging St. Mary's Huskies (5-3) in Halifax.

Something I would love to see is lots of Green and Gold in the stands and I would really like to hear lots of noise so the Squirrels know we're there, you know how Squirrels react to loud sounds. The Tommies are going to need our help if they want to take a run at the top mmmmmmm......... Rodents?? The guys should feel like this is a home game as it is just down the hill and all.

The Tommies were playing with a short bench again on the weekend with rookie Colin Martin and Robert Zandbeek both in their street clothes due to injuries, hopefully they will be back in the line-up on Wednesday night. Also rookie defenceman Jordan Thomas will be out of the lineup with a knee injury sustained on the weekend versus the Acadia Axemen.

Also a big shout-out to Tommies forward Jonathan Bonneau for getting the nod for being named the STU Male Athlete of the week as well as check out the great article in the Daily Gleaner (January 15, 2013) on Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde.

So bring out the Green and Gold also don't forget those noise makers for the Wednesday night game at the AUC for a 7pm start!

Murph Wants Noise!!!!

WyldeMurph on Twitter

Tommies end slump, defeat Mounties

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Dani Miller scored the winning goal vs. MTA today.
Photo Courtesy Dylan Buell

The losing streak is over at three games and the Lady Tommies picked up their first win of 2013 after defeating the Mount Allison Mounties 3 to 2 this afternoon at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

St. Thomas hit the score sheet fast and furious in the first period registering two goals in 14 seconds. Kenya Marcelline ( J. Miller) scored her first of the second half on the power play at 9:48. The Tommies won the ensuing face-off and forced the puck back into Mt A's end. Katie Brewster would fire one under Jenelle Hulan at 10:02 with assists to Stephanie Gates and Kelty Apperson.

The two quick goals would hold up through the first twenty minutes as STU led 2 - 0 and out shot the Mounties 13 - 10 in the period.

Mount Allison would eventually answer with a goal at 12:24 of the second period. Marissa Simard would come out from behind the net and pound a puck past Julia Sharun, who was tight to the right goal post but not enough to keep MT. A off the board.

STU came right back at 15:04 as Dani Miller would accept a Kayla Blackmore pass and shoot a quick one that went right through Hulan. The goal would prove to be huge.

The Mounties came out hungry in the third period and would trim the lead at the 9:47 mark. Kristen Cooze would make a nice deflection on a Randi Sullivan point shot to get closer to STU and cut the lead to one. . The Tommies would be forced to weather the Mt. A storm, including a 4 minute penalty to Katie Brewster with only 5:37 to go.

The Tommies would pull out the victory 3 to 2 but were out shot in the game 30 to 27, including 10 to 5 in the third. With the win STU pulls 3 points ahead of SMU and MCT for second position.

STU's next game will be next Saturday afternoon at 3PM when they entertain the ST- FX X-Women.

Acadia rolls over Tommies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 01:44:00 +0000

The Tommies tore out to a 3 - 0 lead after one period against Acadia but couldn't hold on, as the Axemen came back for a 6 - 3 victory.

Scoring in the first period for STU were Chris Morehouse (Cameron, Levesque), Chermetiev (Bonneau, Hobbs) and Bernier (Cameron, Morehouse) on the PP.

Acadia scored four goals in the second period and two more in the third. They dominated both periods out shooting STU 38 to 4.

Moncton scrapes past Tommies

noreply@blogger.com (STUTOMMIES.COM) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:21:00 +0000

In a tight game this afternoon in Moncton, the Tommies were defeated by Les Aigles Bleues 2 to 1. This is the Tommies third straight loss after Christmas break and one could say that STU is officially reeling.

Moncton jumped out to a 2 to 0 lead after the first period as they scored at 2:28 on the PP and at 12:31. Kristin Wolfe was sharp the rest of the way and wouldn't allow another goal in the game. Shots favoured Moncton in the first period 8 to 6.

STU came out better in the second period and Jordan Miller scored at 14:15 to cut the deficit in half but try as they might, the Tommies could not solve Emilie Bouchard in the Moncton net. She was the difference, as she held her team solid, especially when the Tommies pressed hard late in the third period. Final shots on goal were 21 to 20 for STU.

The Tommies were without Erin McIsaac and Emily Ryan in the line-up.

Tommies Take the Tigers Down

noreply@blogger.com (@WyldeMurph) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 03:37:00 +0000

Tommies Forward Jon Bonneau #51 with the first goal.
Photo courtesy of Dylan Buell

Troy Ryan wanted sweat equity and he is getting it from his STU Tommies Men's Hockey team. The Dalhousie Tigers came to town and they are leaving with a loss. The Tommies who now have a winning streak at home, beat the Tigers 2-1, in a very close game from beginning to end.

The Tommies had two familiar faces in their line-up at home tonight with Christian Morin #2 and Randy Cameron #17 back on the bench. Two faces that were not on the bench though were Colin Martin #19 (Upper Body) and Robert Zandbeek #21 (Lower Body).

The first period opened with Jon Bonneau #51 taking a penalty at 0:18 into the game for roughing, shortly after that penalty was killed off Felix Poulin #8 was in the box for tripping at the 3:15 mark. During the penalty kill Tommies goaltender Jonathan Groenheyde #31 made some amazing saves even after having his stick knocked away. At the 13:54 mark on the clock the Tigers put the Tommies on the power-play, with a hooking call on Daniel Joyce #19, the Tommies were unable to capitalise with the extra man though. At 18:29 though the Tommies Alternate Captain Jon Bonneau #51 scored the Tommies first goal of the game on an odd play where he had been checked from behind, behind the Tigers net and was slow to get back up, he had crossed the blue line back into the neutral zone where he caught a pass from Matt Hobbs #12 and walked in and scored the beauty of a goal passed the Tigers net-minder Wendell Vye #33. The shots on goal at the end of the first were 8-8 a peice.

The second period started much the same way the first did with Alex Labonte #4 taking a penalty at 2:31 for cross-checking. Dal did not use the opportunity to take advantage of being a man up and the Tommies killed off another penalty. The Tommies had two more chances one right after the other with a penalty at 5:27 to Matthew English #15 for boarding within seconds of the Tigers killing that penalty off they were back in the box with Brett Plouffe #7 going in for a high stick at 7:29. The Tommies were unable to score on the power-plays but did put lots of shots on net in the period. The shots on goal in the period were 9 for the Tommies and 6 for the Tigers. Totalling 17 for the Tommies and 14 for the Tigers.

The third period started with the Tigers pouring on lots of pressure trying to get the equalizer. At 10:06 they were given the chance with Jon Bonneau going to the box for hooking but were unable to solve Groenheyde during the man advantage. At 10:44 the Dal Tigers forward Brett Theberge left the ice with a laceration complaining to the officials that he had been slashed, there was some blood on the ice and took the Linesmen a few minutes to clean it up, this allowed the Tommies to regroup and settle down going into the last minutes of the game. With 48 seconds left in the game the Tommies came back and scored an insurance marker off the stick of Jon Bonneau #51 assisted by Alex Labonte #4 in an empty Dal net. It was a much needed goal because 17 seconds later the Tigers came back and scored a goal of their own, Andrew Wigginton got the marker with assists to Andrew Langan #26 and Chris Ivanko #71, Dal did not let up in the last 30 seconds of the game but goalie Jon Groenheyde stood his ground and kept the off the board. The Tigers put 17 shots on goal in the third to the Tommies 6.

Close call from Cameron and Morehouse
Photo courtesy of Dylan Buell

With all that said the Tommies WIN!!!!! 2-1, Shots on goal were 31 for the Tigers and 23 for the Tommies. The AUS Player of the game was Jonathan Bonneu with two goals in the game.

The Tommies penalty kill is looking strong and the team is making positive strides in the right direction. Saturday night they are taking on the Acadia Axmen who are coming to the Grant Harvey Centre from UdeM and a 4-3 loss, game time is 7pm.

Murph

WydeMurph on Twitter