Queen’s Golden Gaels temporarily, at least, moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Ontario University Athletics women’s hockey standings Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks at the Memorial Centre.
The win, their first at home over Laurier since 2011, improved the Gaels’ record to 15-3-3, the same as Guelph, a 3-1 loser Saturday to league-leading Western, and Toronto, which plays Nipissing Saturday night.
Laurier, which lost for the third time in its last four games—after starting the post-Christmas portion of its schedule with four straight wins—fell to 12-6-4 to remain in sixth place in the tightly bunched conference.
In winning their third game in a row, the No. 4-ranked Gaels got two goals from Taryn Pilon, tapping in a rebound both times, and an empty-net goal from Shawna Griffin. Jessie Hurrell scored the lone Laurier goal, tying the game in the first period barely a minute after Pilon had opened scoring.
For Pilon, they were the ninth and 10th goals of the season—the 38th and 39th of her four-year intercollegiate career—and they ended a seven-game goal-scoring drought that dated to late November.
The Gaels will resume play Sunday afternoon when they will host the Waterloo Warriors, 9-8-4, at 2:30 at the Memorial Centre.