Kehler Lifts REDS To OT Win

(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB REDS took game one of the Atlantic University Sports women's hockey Final Tuesday, defeating the STFX X-Women 3-2 in an overtime thriller.

Tamina Kehler (Chilliwack, BC) was the overtime hero for UNB. She was able to take a pass from Alayna Wagstaff (Olds, AB) in the slot and put it home to give UNB the victory.

"I had a little bit of space in the slot, I got a great pass from [Alayna] and put it in the net," said Kehler, who was named the Subway Player of the Game. "This whole game was just unreal. Everyone was cheering each other on, everyone had each other's backs."

The REDS opened the scoring on an own goal by STFX. UNB defender Jenna MacLean (Wilcox, SK) threw the puck on the net from behind the goal and it bounced off of an X player and into the net to give UNB the lead at 9:31 of the first period.

"I lost the puck a few times and just kept working for it. I threw it behind me and it happened to go off of their defenseman and into the net," said MacLean. "It's playoff hockey. Just get pucks to the net and anything can happen."

UNB added to their lead on a goal by Ashley Stratton (Mount Pearl, NL) at 12:48. Stratton, with Kehler, came in on a 2-on-1. They fed the puck back and forth before Stratton put it past Jamie Johnston (Victoria, BC) in the X net. It was Stratton's AUS-leading fourth goal of the playoffs.

The X-Women did not quit, and answered right back in the second period with two goals to tie the game. 

First, on a powerplay, Abby Lewis (Kanata, ON) tipped in a point shot from Lea MacLeod (Dartmouth, NS) at the 8:58 mark. Then, just a few minutes later, Lewis added her second of the game, tapping in a rebound off a shot from Lauren Dabrowski (Tiny, ON) at 13:44.

"It seemed like we were a little bit nervous to start the game," said X-Women head coach Ben Berthiaume. "They're a quick team so we had to move our feet and let the puck do the work. When we start doing that, we're a better team."

In the third period, STFX continued to control the play, forcing UNB goalie Kendra Woodland (Kamloops, BC) to make several key saves to keep the REDS in the game. Woodland made 35 saves of 37 shots in the game one victory.

Heading into the overtime period, UNB was a player down and were able to kill off the penalty to start overtime before having to kill off another penalty early in the extra frame. 

After the great work on the penalty kill, the REDS began to take over the game and had a number of chances before Kehler put home the game-winner.

"We knew we had to get back to playing our game," said MacLean. "I think we answered in overtime, and I thought we controlled the play in the overtime period."

UNB now sits one victory away from an AUS Championship after Tuesday night's exhilarating overtime victory. 

"I know it's a lot bigger than the group we have here," said Kehler. "We are so grateful to be where we are right now, especially after everything that's gone into our program, even before we got here. It's huge for us, we all know that and we all appreciate that every time we go on the ice".

Game 2 of this AUS Final goes Thursday night, at 7:00pm, in Antigonish.

"I think we just have to stick to our game as we did in the first period, getting pucks deep, working hard, manipulating their skill," said MacLean. "They'll have a pretty packed barn at STFX, so we'll need to work hard and do what we did this game in order to get the job done."

RECAP BY: Evan Richtsfeld/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics