(FREDERICTON, NB) Payton Hargreaves (Whitby, ON) scored her first career hat-trick to drive the UNB REDS to a 5-2 victory over the St. Thomas Tommies in Atlantic University Sport women's hockey action, Friday night at UNB's Aitken Centre.
"I'm really proud of her," said REDS' interime head coach Kyle MacDonald. "When you look at the leaders in our group, they are successful because of their habits on and off the ice. Payton is someone who does all of the little things right. Seeing her get rewarded because of that, it's really nice to see."
Hargreaves astonishing efforts earned her Tim Horton's Player of the Game honours.
"It was a really special moment," Hargreaves expressed. "I'm really happy right now. Honestly, I had all the easy parts, my line-mates did all the hard work so I just had easy tap ins at that point."
The first period brought strong play and both teams showcased their talents.
STU's Ekaterina Pelowich (Stouffville, ON) was the first to score, at 18:42 of the opening period. On a breakaway, Pelowich received a pass and pulled REDS' goaltender Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) to her blocker side, tucking the puck around Woodland's skate and into the net.
The REDS battled back in the second period, with Hargreaves and Katelyn Scott (Almonte, ON) scoring goals less than 30 seconds apart.
The first goal came on the powerplay at 9:06.
Lillian George (Nipissing First Nation) found Scott, who fired a shot on net. Hargreaves was in the lane and tipped the puck under the blocker of Tommies' goaltender Katie Sweeney (Tecumseh, ON).
26 seconds later, Scott found herself in the same spot and managed to send the puck into the net untouched, past Sweeney.
The third period brought four goals between the rival teams.
In a scramble in front of the Tommies' net, Hargreaves managed to find the puck, which appeared to be covered just outside of the crease, and flip it over the goaltender to score the REDS' third goal.
Jacey Dane (Aurora, ON) seized a powerplay opportunity and closed the REDS lead, firing a shot that beat Woodland five-hole, making the score 3-2.
The REDS closed the final period with another pair of goals from Scott and Hargreaves.
With the Tommies' net empty, Scott sailed the puck down the ice, scoring her second of the game.
With less than a minute left, Hargreaves secured her hat-trick, copying her first goal by tipping Mackenzie Keenan's (Midhurst, ON) shot from the blue line over the blocker of Sweeney.
"It was funny," Hargreaves said, "Mack Keenan, before the face-off, told me, I'm going to look for you back-door and I was like okay I'll be there. And she did. She placed it right on my stick, and it went right in the net. It was awesome."
"It's awesome to have Payton as a role model," Scott added. "She is great with the puck and without. She knows how to get open and put the puck in the net."
With the win, UNB improves to 16-4-0-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL), remains atop the AUS standings and clinches an AUS playoff berth.
St. Thomas is now 10-5-2-2 and sits third.
The Tommies skate back into action Saturday, hosting Saint Mary's at 7:00pm.
The REDS return to the ice next Saturday when they host the STFX X-Women. Game time is 7:00pm.
"I think there are a lot of positives to take away from tonight's game," said Coach MacDonald. "It's nice to get back in the win column. STU is a strong team. We showed a lot of resilience and a high level of compete right through to the last whistle."
RECAP BY: Madison Tucker/UNB Athletics
PHOTOS BY: Fran Harris/for UNB Athletics