The University of Rhode Island women’s club ice hockey team won a pair of games last weekend over the University of New Hampshire on Saturday and over Providence College on Sunday.
In Saturday’s game, Rhode Island raced out to a 4-0 lead on New Hampshire and never looked back. Third-year forward Rylee Tanner led the way with a goal and assist both in the second period. Rhode Island dominated from the puck drop, outshooting the Wildcats in each period and outshooting them for the game 37-14. UNH scored a late third period goal, but that was it as the Rams walked away with a 4-1 victory.
Sunday’s game was a bit more close; Rhode Island once again came out of the gates fast, quickly scoring two straight and going up 2-0 on Providence College. The Rams scored a pair of goals from third-year forward Rylee Tanner and fourth-year alternate captain Grace Gibbons, both assisted by second year forward Bella Bonfiglio. PC then stormed right back into the game. The game got very physical and chippy and Rhode Island found themselves in penalty trouble throughout this contest.
Providence went three-for-three on the power play to take a 3-2 lead over Rhode Island. The Rams tied the game in the third period at three apiece with a goal by second-year forward Bella Bonfiglio. She continued to shine and show her playmaking ability throughout the weekend, finishing with a goal and setting up her teammates with four assists.
“She’s been searching for goals for a while,” URI Head Coach Nikki Friesen said. “She’s been quite the playmaker as of late, so I hope that she can continue to settle into that role and feel confident moving pucks to her teammates.”
Providence pulled back ahead with a third period goal of its own to retake the lead 4-3. Rhode Island would not back down as they would knot things up at 4-4, thanks to a game tying goal with about five minutes left from second-year defenseman Penny Spack, set up perfectly by fourth-year captain Emily Jedson. URI kept getting hit with penalties in the third period and could not get the puck out of their zone while Providence was on the power play, but their defense did just enough to get the game to overtime all tied up.
In overtime both teams traded shots, going back-and-forth in a battle till the end. With a little over two minutes left in overtime, Spack crashed the net and scored again. The URI bench erupted in joy and spilled over to go celebrate with her as they capped off a rollercoaster of a game with a 5-4 overtime victory. Spack came up big when the Rams needed her most, scoring the two most pivotal goals of the game and ending the weekend on a high note.
“I think it was a little bit too thrilling, ” Friesen said. “I think we probably should have walked away with this game a little bit earlier, but it’s good to see them have to dig in and go from having the lead to down and then going into overtime, so I think they’re pretty excited about the win.”
Rhode Island will now set its focus on a pair of games at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday night at 6:20 p.m. and Saturday afternoon at 11:20 a.m.