Carothers buries OT winner for first career ACAC hat trick in Rustlers OT win
The Lakeland College King's Energy Group Rustlers hosted the NAIT Ooks in the second half of the home and home series. The Rustlers traveled to Edmonton last night and captured a 3-2 overtime win on a short handed game winning goal from Olivia Mann. In a classic Saturday night tilt, the Rustlers skated to a 4-3 overtime win, in front of a raucous Russ Robertson Arena crowd.
The first period started well for the Rustlers as they scored three goals in a span of four minutes. Hailey Carothers scored her first of two goals in the period as she buried a shot at the 9:58 mark on a setup from Laiken Swan. The Rustlers would continue the momentum as twenty-five seconds later, Mykayla Pylypow would bury the puck. Assists went to linemates Kaylee Hill and Mackenzie Stafford. Head coach Brendan Jensen called a timeout to attempt to and slow down the Rustlers attack. At the 5:59 mark, Carothers would score her second of the period scoring an unassisted goal. This would end the night for Ooks goaltender Kaitlyn Slator as she was pulled at this point with the Rustlers up 3-0. Both teams would kill off a power play opportunity each and the Rustlers would outshoot the Ooks 9-7.
The second period started slow with a number of stoppages and whistles. The Rustlers would get into penalty trouble, drawing three consecutive minors in the second half of the period. Goaltender Mackenzie Dojahn was the biggest penalty killer for the Rustlers, stopping a number of Ooks opportunities in tight. At the 2:11 mark of the period, the Ooks broke through Dojahn and the Rustlers defense. Tayler Premak scored the first goal for NAIT with assists going to Cheyenna Harden and Cass Lyttle. The Ooks would outshoot the Rustlers 14-7 in the second period and take a 21-16 advantage into the third period.
The third period would go the Ooks way as they were in the Rustlers end pressuring for two goals to bring things even. At 16:47, Cheyenna Harden would bring the Ooks within a goal. She would score on an unassisted breakaway to make it 3-2. With 7:56 remaining in the third period, the Ooks would square things up. Sierra Meroniuk would tip home a beautiful deflection off a point shot from Julianne Crozier to tie things up. Both teams would kill off a single power play opportunity and the teams would head to overtime.
In the first overtime period, the Ooks would have fifty-five seconds left from a penalty assessed to Madelyn Mann to start on the power play. Dojahn blocked the Ooks attempts at walking out with an overtime win. Shots on goal in the first overtime period were 3-2 for NAIT. As the teams skated to a three on three second overtime, a tripping minor to Bre Martin was called with 4:24 left to go in the second overtime. The Rustlers would pour on the pressure on goaltender Sidney McMullan but she was a wall on the Rustlers power play. Just as things looked to be heading to overtime, Hailey Carothers stripped a NAIT defender of the puck and walked in from the half wall. She beat McMullan to finish off her first career ACAC hat trick and a wild 4-3 Rustlers win.
The NAIT Ooks have a bye next weekend while the Rustlers will square off with the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens. Final shots on goal were 41-30 for NAIT. Game star for the NAIT Ooks was Cheyenna Harden with one goal and one assist. Game star for the Lakeland College King's Energy Group Rustlers with a hat trick was Hailey Carothers.