A goal by Bronwyn Bolduc in the ninth minute of overtime gave the Nipissing Lakers a 2-1 win over the Queen’s Golden Gaels in the opening game of their Ontario University Athletics women’s hockey quarter-final Wednesday afternoon.
The Lakers will take a 1-0 lead into the second game of the best-of-three series Friday night at the Memorial Centre.
After a scoreless first period, Ava Keis opened scoring for the home team after just 56 seconds of the second. Less than four minutes later, Addi Halladay tipped home a shot from the blue line by Courtenay Jacklin just as a power play expired to tie the game for Queen’s.
From that point, Queen’s killed three successive penalties, and the Gaels outshot Nipissing 9-7 in the third period, but they couldn’t prevent the game from going into overtime.
It was third time this year that the teams have met, and the third time the home team has won by a single goal, the second time it happened in overtime.
Jacquelin Rochefort stopped 29 shots for the goaltending win for Nipissing, which, thanks to a quirk in the schedule, was playing just its second game since Feb. 6. Caitlyn Lahonen made 27 saves in the Queen's goal.
The Gaels, 15-9 in the regular year, finished fourth, one point ahead of Nipissing, which lost its last game to open the door for Queen’s to move ahead. The Gaels won four of their last five games to earn home-ice advantage in the series.
If a third game is necessary, it will be played in Kingston on Saturday night.
Both games at the Memorial Centre will begin at 7:30 p.m.