Broncos survive slugfest vs. SAIT

OLDS- The Olds College Broncos (3-4) came away with a 5-4 win over the SAIT Trojans (0-5) during a Thursday night slugfest at the Olds Sportsplex.

The win came on Breast Cancer Awareness night, a night that saw the Broncos faithful raise $1,005 in support of Breast Cancer Research.

Tori Chenier was the star of the night for the young Broncos team, capping off her hat-trick with an overtime winner in three on three action.

The Broncos came out of the locker room hot, feeding off the energy from the crowd of nearly 200, opening the scoring just thirty seconds in. Kali Cummings found the puck behind the net and made a brilliant backhand pass to the front of the net where Chenier would score her first of the game to ignite the crowd.

Less than four minutes later the Broncos struck again. Chenier gathered the puck in the left corner behind the net while Captain Cassidy Holt made her way into open space in front of the goal. Chenier found the stick of Holt with a nifty pass before Holt wired a wrist shot, turned away by goaltender Emma Greenwood. However, without a defensemen in front Holt gathered her own rebound and put a backhand into the open cage to increase the Broncos lead to two.

The Trojans would not go away quietly. With four minutes remaining in the first, Mackenna Oswald let a shot rip from just outside the circle where Karmen Mooney would tip the puck up and past goalie Jaydin Spooner.

At the 15 minute mark of the second period, Kira Streliev gathered the puck for SAIT inside the offensive blue line and made a no look backhand pass to Emma Wheeldon. From the left circle Wheeldon beat Spooner on the blocker side to knot the game at two.

Just thirty seconds later Cassidy Bellavance let an innocent looking shot go from the point that ended in disaster for the Broncos. The Broncos left Brittany McDonald wide open in front of the net, who managed to get a clean tip on the puck to direct it over the pad of Spooner for the Trojans third unanswered goal.

The Broncos would keep the back and fourth match going, as Chenier would score her second of the game just thirty seconds into the third. From the point, Chenier let a slap shot go through a screen that evaded Greenwood to lock the game back up at three.

The score remained that way for the next 11 and a half minutes before Krista Wilson and Kali Cummings broke in on a two on one. Wilson made a saucer pass to Cummings who put the puck past Greenwood to restore the Broncos lead.

The game would take another turn four minutes later. McDonald found the puck during a mad scramble in front and put it past Spooner to equal the game once again.

Four on four overtime solved nothing, but during three on three Chenier completed the hat-trick. On a two on none, Chenier took a shot that went through the five hole of Greenwood to lift Olds to their third win of the year.

 Spooner turned aside 21 of 25 shots to pick up her third win of the year. Meanwhile Greenwood stopped 25 of 30.

The two teams will meet again in Calgary on Saturday evening, with puck drop slated for 6 P.M.