What the Grand Canyon University Women's Ice Hockey team may lack in wins, they don't lack in heart. Despite dropping two games this past weekend to their rival Arizona State, the Lopes can see the progress made.
It can be easy to look at the sweep and the overall record, and notice something different. But Lopes' Head Coach Natalie Rossi recognizes more. After being shut out, 3-0, Friday night, Rossi sensed a level of compete was absent. Outshooting the Sun Devils 35-25 wasn't enough. She called on her team to battle for the next night, to end the semester the right way.
It was another loss in the column – 3-1 on Saturday – but the team answered.
"We told them we wanted them to battle for every single puck, and they did," Rossi said. "Every puck was going to be their puck, and that's the mentality they went in with."
Going down early in the opening period gave the Lopes another chance to show their resolve. The first came three minutes in when the puck deflected off the glass behind the net and went to the stick of ASU's Catherine Jones. The second came shorthanded five minutes later for ASU when KC McGinley's shot banked off the end boards before Taylor England knocked in the loose puck.
The score read 2-0 at the time, but GCU was never discouraged by the early bad bounces.
"I'm continually impressed with how well we play from behind," Rossi said. "It's very easy to get down on yourself, but we don't. We take every challenge in stride and we continue to play as hard as we can."
The second period would be one of the better periods of hockey all season for GCU. The Lopes outshot ASU 15-7 in the second while using their constant forecheck to crash the net for every loose puck. ASU's goaltender Jordan Nash-Boulden kept the Lopes off the scoreboard in the period, but Rossi saw the fight she wants from her team.
"They did a great job crashing the net and winning those battles in front of the net," Rossi said. "It was just a couple of inches away on a few of those chances. They did everything we asked them to do with the battling, but sometimes those bounces don't go your way."
Sam Baquet would net the lone goal for GCU at 12:21 of the third period when she took the puck out of her defensive zone, and went coast-to-coast for a wrist shot above the blocker of Nash-Boulden. The Lopes continued to persist for the tying goal, but McGinley added the insurance marker five minutes later.
Baquet's goal also brought over 100 teddy bears raining in from the stands as part of Teddy Bear Toss Night. The Lopes donated each one to the Phoenix Children's Hospital.
Aside from this being the final game of 2017, it was also the last game for two of the Lopes, Courtney Morgan and Vandalyn Hudson. Hudson started in net on Saturday and saved 30 of 33 ASU shots. Morgan finishes her season with two goals and an assist. Both were part of the continued development throughout 2017 that made Rossi upbeat for the future.
"'Vandy' and Courtney both did a lot of great things for us in the program," Rossi said. "As a whole, the amount of improvement we've had over one semester is incredible. Just seeing their effort level makes me really excited for the future."
The Lopes are now off for winter break. Their next games will be January 27 and 28 when they face the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The Lopes finish out their inaugural season against the University of Denver at AZ Ice Peoria February 4.
