The Badgers continued their final playoff push with a crucial win at Canada Games Park. 

The Brock Badgers women's hockey team defeated the York Lions by a score of 3-2 on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 14.

Avery Diljee, Sydney Hood and Allison Stevenson all found the back of the net in the contest while Camie Matteau Rushbrook and Randyll Strongman both contributed two assists. 

Goaltender Megan Thiessen stood tall in her second consecutive start, recording 32 saves in the triumph. 

With the win, the Badgers are now only one point back of the Lions and the final playoff spot in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) West Division with one game to play. 

Before the game, the Badgers honoured five of their players who have reached the milestone of 100 career OUA games.
 

Despite being outshot 10-5 in the opening frame, the Badgers were the only team to find the back of the net. Matteau Rushbrook set Stevenson up on a breakaway as she came out of the penalty box to give Brock the 1-0 lead.

Penalty trouble made it difficult for either side to find momentum early in the second period as Brock recorded three penalties while York surrendered two. Despite the back-and-forth play, the Badgers were able to extend their lead as an excellent solo effort from Strongman set up Hood to extend the hosts lead to two. 

The visitors were able to get one back early in the third period before Allison Moore found Diljee in the corner who was able to squeak it past the York goaltender to put Brock back into a two-goal advantage. 

York proved they were not going to go down easy as they tallied another goal late in the frame and put the pressure on Brock. The visitors pulled their goaltender with two minutes to play but the hosts were able to weather the storm and see out the game for a 3-2 victory. 

Despite the win, Brock were outshot by a large margin of 34-16 in the contest. 

Up next, the Badgers will travel to North Bay for their final game of the OUA regular season tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. against the Nipissing Lakers. This will be the second meeting between these two teams this season, with the first seeing the Lakers victorious by a score of 5-2 on Nov. 16, 2024. You can catch the action on OUA.tv.