Apperson Hat Trick Pushes Tommies Past Panthers

By: Sean Crocker, BA'18

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The St. Thomas University Tommies downed the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 5-1 in AUS women's hockey action Sunday afternoon at the Grant-Harvey Centre.

The Tommies opened up the scoring with a goal from Kelty Apperson and had a 1-0 lead until she struck again less than 30 seconds later to make it 2-0.

The two goals from Apperson were her first of the season.

"She just wasn't scoring so we changed a bit up on the power play," Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said. "We have Kelty playing defence on the power play which doesn't actually change the power play a whole lot, but this changed the dynamic of the special team."

The Tommies controlled possession for most of the period as the Panthers did not register a shot on goal until the 10:40 mark.

Near the end of the frame, the puck bounced loose in the Panthers' crease and St. Thomas forward Teah Anderson banged it home, giving the Tommies a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.

The Tommies didn't let up in the second and Apperson netted her third of the game for the hat trick, putting the Tommies up 4-0 after 40 minutes.

The Panthers got on the board in the third period when forward Kiana Strand lobbed a puck in from the blue line that got past Tommies netminder.

"She [Taylor Cook] saw what we saw in that [Alisha] Gilbert got hit hard," Murphy said. "Her reaction was to contain the puck and it bounced on her."

That goal didn't go unanswered—moments later Lauren Henman potted the fifth goal for the Tommies.

With the win, the Tommies improve to 7-0-1, while the Panthers drop to 5-3-0.

The Tommies are back in action Saturday, November 12 when they visit the St. Francis Xaiver X-Women. The Panthers will host the St. Mary's Huskies on Friday, November 11.