It took the Fury (6-0-0) more than 15 minutes of play to open the scoring against the Red Rockets (3-2-1) Thursday night in Whitehorse Women’s Hockey at the Canada Games Centre. However, that goal adequately represents the opening of floodgates, as the Fury scored one more in the first and four in the second on their way to a 6-1 win.
“All our players show up, that makes a big difference,” said Fury’s Krystal Mason, who scored two goals and picked up an assist, explaining what gives her team an advantage. “So we can get that extra rest on the bench. And I guess we try hard and are meshing well. We’re learning every game to try new things, and we’re trying them and they seem to be working.”
Surprisingly, after not registering a single shot on net in the second, the Rockets broke the shutout with a goal 1:07 into the third — on their first shot in more than 20 minutes of play. The goal awoke the Rockets’ bench as they went on to have 10 more shots on net in the period, a noteworthy amount considering the team had a total of two shots on net up to the start of the third.
“I think everyone was getting down and was kind of upset,” said Emilie Nugent, who scored the Rockets’ goal. “So I was like, we might as well be happy and boost it up and stuff. Once they see we can get the puck in the net and we have a chance of winning, they try harder…
“They have a tendency to play better when they know they have a chance to get points and score.”
“We were trying new things,” said Mason, of the third. “We thought, ‘Well, we’re winning so let’s practice with our passes.’ And so we were passing as much as possible and not shooting as much. We weren’t worried — we didn’t have that pressure to score anymore.”
To make things more frustrating for the Rockets, the Fury played all of the second period without a dressed goalie in net. With 3:58 left in the first Nugent fired a slapper at the Fury’s net, catching goaltender Alex Whitlaw in a vulnerable spot, causing her to crumple to the ice and then sit out the remainder of the game.
“Emilie did a wicked slap shot to my groin — that really hurt,” said Whitlaw. “A pad of my pants was missing, I lost it somewhere, and it hit the bone or something. It hurt so much…
“I’m going to get new pants now.”
“I felt really bad,” said Nugent, about injuring her friend Whitlaw.
The Fury’s Pam Morrissey slapped on the goalie pads and played in the crease for the third period.
The Fury’s second period goals seemed to pour on the scoreboard, with the league leaders scoring four goals on six shots.
“Yeah, we’re missing two or three of our top players,” said Nugent. “So we’re trying to hold the team together while they’re gone.”
Kaelin Shae opened the scoring for the Fury, while teammate Cindy Gosselin recorded a goal and an assist. Shayla Roulston and Janice Millington also scored.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com