NAIT Ooks hosted the Olds Broncos in their second of two meetings. The Ooks blanked the Broncos Thursday in Olds 2-0, looking for the weekend sweep tonight.
In the first period, the Ooks came out strong solidifying their forecheck early, and they were rewarded. Cassidy Shandro intercepted a pass and broke in off the ride side, ripping one over the glove of Broncos goaltender Lacey Friesen to give the Ooks a 1-0 early. A few minutes later, Broncos forward Ireland Greenhough buried home a shot past Ooks goaltender Havana Batke. The Broncos continued to generate good looks for themselves and controlled most of the opening frame. The Ooks started to settle in late in the first, winning races and battles for the pucks. The Broncos were inches away from taking the lead in the dying moments on a strange deflection, but thankfully for the Ooks, it trickled wide. Things stayed knotted at one after 20 minutes of play.
In the second, the Ooks started the middle frame as they ended the first, but the Broncos broke the deadlock. Olds took advantage of a defensive breakdown and capitalized on a three-on-one. Broncos, leading scorer Hailey Hoogkamp received a pass and ripped one over the shoulder of Batke. The Ooks wasted no time knotting things back up at two on the powerplay. Jessica Engelbrecht banged home a loose puck, the Ooks' second powerplay goal in as many games. The Ooks tilted the ice in their favour for long portions of the middle frame. The Broncos had a late powerplay but had nothing to show for it. The score remained tied at two heading into the final twenty.
The Ooks opened the third period buzzing, they had created multiple high-quality scoring chances, including a breakaway from Taylor Premak, but Friesen stood tall, making some great saves to keep it tied. Havana Batke was equally as impressive at the other end with a desperation save on the penalty kill. The Ooks had plenty of time and space in the offensive zone and were successful working the puck low to high, funnelling bodies to the net, making it difficult for Friesen. Olds went back to the man advantage and took advantage of their opportunity. Maeve Van't Klooster re-directed a point shot through the five-hole of Batke to give the Broncos a 3-2 lead with just over eight minutes to go. The Ooks pressed hard for the equalizer, but Olds did a great job clearing pucks out of the slot area, not allowing many second-chance opportunities. With the goalie pulled and only eight seconds on the clock, the Ooks got a strange bounce off the back of Friesen before finding its way over the line. Shandro was credited with her second of the night, and they needed extra time to solve this one.
In the four-on-four overtime, looking for the hat-trick, Shandro made a deke past the defender and busted in on a partial breakaway, but Friesen made a great save with her head. The teams traded chances, but both goaltenders were up for the task, and five minutes solved nothing.
In three-on-three, similar to the first overtime, Shandro got loose behind the defenders and beat Friesen but couldn't beat the post. Moments later, Shandro had another partial breakaway, but Friesen made the save. The Ooks got called for interference sending the Broncos to the powerplay with just under three minutes to play. Just as the penalty expired, Michaella Kibblewhite broke in alone, but Friesen kept it out, and they needed a shootout.
The Broncos scored the lone goal in the shootout to give them a 4-3 win over the NAIT Ooks on Saturday night.