Women's Hockey League results

With mother nature forcing the local Women's Hockey League to cancel Monday night's full slate of games, only a pair of contests were completed this week.

Country Way used a win on Sunday to pull back into a tie with Source For Sports for the league lead while Lafarge scored a big win to pull back into the race and create only a two point spread between third and eighth place.

The following is a complete recap of action from week eight provided courtesy of the WHL's Lorie Springall:

************************************************************ WEEK # 8 - February 22nd & 23rd

Clutch goaltending and stellar defence was the story between Lafarge and Investors Group on Sunday. Investors goalie, Sherry Collins, stopped all but two shots while Lafarge's Nancy Dewling allowed only one in a nail-biting 2-1 Lafarge victory.

Lisa Rowlinson gave Investors an early 1-0 lead, tapping the puck past Dewling after a nice pass from Trish Evans. However, Dewling and her defensive core of Natalie King, Brenda "Bruiser" Huibers, Betty Buck and Sheila Madahbee were solid from that point onward.

The hard work paid off as Suzie Sherrard finally solved Collins with 7:31 left in the second frame to tie it at 1-1. Both teams battled hard against stingy defences for the go-ahead goal. Especially impressive for Investors was Sharon Abrams who had an outstanding game on defence.

It took a strategic play on the part of Lafarge in the last minute of the game to get the winner. With all five Investors Group players pressing deep in the attacking zone, Lafarge risked leaving one player high in the centre ice area.

As luck would have it, Debbie "Bam Bam" Beauchamp gobbled up the loose puck for Lafarge and fired a perfect pass off the boards to an uncovered Alicia Pollock, sending her on a breakaway for the winning goal.

Investors pushed hard for the equalizer in the remaining 33 seconds but to no avail. Pollock and Beauchamp also had one assist each in the game.

In Sunday's other game, Country Way skated to a convincing 7-1 win over Skip's Kweok. Christine Trivers and Krysten DiTommaso each had four points for the winners. DiTommaso scored a hat trick and added one assist while Trivers had two goals and two assists. Denise "Deeter" Goldade scored once and had one assist.

Other assists went to Marg VanLandenghem, Brenda Frey (2) and Andrea Moraca (2). Joanne Pine scored Skip's only goal, a short-handed effort, assisted by Rosalea Boissoneau.

There were no games played Monday night as one area of the natural ice surface at the Echo Bay Sportsplex experienced a slight melt down deeming it unsafe.

Action continues this weekend as four teams take to the ice Sunday, February 29th at McMeeken. At 4pm Algoma Insurance will play Country Way, while Palmer Paving meets Crawford's Canines at 5pm.

Weather permitting, Monday night's games in Echo Bay will see Country Way play Lafarge, Crawford's Canines play Source For Sports, Skip's Kweok against Palmer Paving and Algoma Insurance against Investors Group. All games begin at 6:30pm. ************************************************************

STANDINGS:

(wins-loses-ties-points)

Country Way 7-2-1-15 Source for Sports 7-2-1-15 Crawford's Canines 5-5-1-9 Palmer Paving 4-5-1-9 Algoma Insurance 4-5-1-9 Skip's Kweok 4-5-1-9 Investors Group 3-6-1-7 Lafarge 3-6-1-7