Women face dead end

Christina Strynatka
Contributor

The first goal was scored in the opening period of the match Nov. 28 when Lions hockey defense Rebecca Bond took her second hooking
penalty, and gave Brock Badger Kelly Walker the advantage she needed to score.
The game only went downhill from there.
Though the York Lions managed to stave off Brock by playing an up-tempo, physical game at moments in the first period, the continuous momentary lapses in discipline led the Badgers to their one-sided 6-2 victory.
Third-year forward Kristie Wilson – who finished with two penalties, one for tripping, and one for high-sticking – could only ruefully laugh at her team’s sloppiness. “We just need to stay out of the box, including myself,” she offered.
When asked how the Lions could avoid such a mess in the future, she had but a few words of advice. “Just work hard on the forecheck and try to keep our sticks down.”
Assistant coach Stacey Colarossi was a little more opinionated. “I think we just played an undisciplined second period. [We] got into some penalty trouble, which ruins the flow of the game. We had really good flow in the first period, good speed and tempo. Once you start playing short-handed and having to mix up lines and people are sitting and not getting their regular shifts, it breaks up the game.”
It wasn’t all of York’s penalties that gave the team their final score, but Brock’s pressure and successful passing. The Badgers had contributions
from several players, with an especially impressive game play by third-year defense Maja Samborski, who brought to mind the offense of Bobby Orr with her long shot stance.
Despite taking an interference penalty in the first, she managed to put both incidents behind her and sparked an offensive onslaught. “I think it pumps up the team,” she explained. “It definitely pumped me up. Everyone was scoring, and it was all different lines of rolling.”
While it seemed like everything was clicking for the Badgers, they did take advantage of York’s numerous mistakes. York played very sloppily in the second period, using their sticks over-exuberantly and receiving multiple penalties as a result. “It’s hard to bounce back when you’re not getting any calls in your favor,” said Colarossi after the game.
As much as the York players were feeling the loss, so was the audience, who could do nothing but look on as goalie Sydney Brown, with no help in front of the net, faced a lot of shots that should have been deflected or blocked. If it weren’t for her standing on her head in the first period, the score for Brock would have easily climbed into the double digits.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Game Quotes
“They [York] keep passing it back to the defensemen and they’re all bottled in front of the net.”
– Jamie Holmes,
York student spectator
“It’s fun to see when you’re on the winning side, but if you’re York, it’s not so good to see.”
– Les Piotrowski,
Brock Badger fan
“I was pretty riled, I didn’t think it was a fair call. I’m very frustrated!”
– Maja Samborski,
Brock Badger defenceman
Compiled by Christina Strynatka