One of the hardest things to do in sport is repeat as champions, but that was the task presented to the 2019-20 St. Thomas University Tommies women’s hockey team following their first Atlantic University Sport Championship in 2018-19.
The Tommies had a season that saw them beat every team in the AUS but one on their way to a 5th place regular season finish and a quarter-final matchup with their cross-campus rival, the UNB Reds. After losing game one 2-1 at the Aitken Centre, the Tommies forced game three by defeating the Reds in double overtime at the Grant-Harvey Centre with the winning goal coming off the stick of Brooke Stanford.
“The loss in the quarter final will be something that will motivate the players over the summer to ensure they are putting the work in to improve our position next season,” said Tommies’ head coach Peter Murphy. “The players were in great shape this year and we are looking forward to seeing their starting condition next September. I believe the rookies understand the need to compete every night and will look to carry forward those lessons to next season.”
There were a trio of Tommies tied for the team lead in scoring: Alex Woods (7 goals, 7 assists), Olivia Reid (6 goals, 8 assists) and Mariah Carey (10 goals, 4 assists). Carey took advantage of a heightened offensive role with the team by besting her career best in goals by seven.
“Mariah had a breakout season and she has developed into a great goal scorer but also a real power forward in the offensive zone,” said Murphy. “Woodsy was very deserving as an All-Star this year. Numbers wise she was where we would expect if we were struggling to score. She is still a dominant player in almost every game she plays.”
Woods led the AUS in goals by a defender and was named to the AUS 2nd All-Star Team, while rookies Erin Arsenault and Aislynn Byers were named to the AUS All-Rookie Team.
Byers and Arsenault were two of eight rookies who stepped into major roles with the Tommies this season, including goaltending tandem Caroline Pietroski and Marandee Hunter, who combined to post a 1.67 goals against average and a .938 save percentage.
“The team looked good early on and we identified that we were likely better than the previous year defensively. Our goaltending started strong and settled in and stayed there for the season.”
The Tommies graduated six players this season: Danielle Ring, Emily Oleksuk, Paige Jackson, Alexandra Swift, Lauren Legault and Alex Woods. Woods and Legault will be eligible to return for a fifth year if they so choose.
Murphy and his staff will turn their attention to adding to their recruits for 2020-21, which includes Katie Sweeney.