POULIN SCORES LATER WINNER, RED BEATS WHITE AT FALL FESTIVAL

JASON LA ROSE

CALGARY, Alta. – Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que./Montreal, CWHL) hammered home the game-winner with 4:44 left, sending Red to a come-from-behind 4-2 win over White on Friday night in the first of two intrasquad games at Canada’s National Women’s Team Fall Festival.

Red trailed 1-0 midway through the first period and 2-1 after two before scoring three unanswered goals in the final frame.

It’s the second night in a row Red has come back to win; it erased three one-goal deficits in an overtime victory over the Calgary AAA Flames in the camp opener on Thursday night.

With an extra period looming again, Poulin took a pass from behind the net from Jennifer Wakefield (Pickering, Ont./Linköping HC, SWE) and ripped a one-timer off the cross-bar and past White goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens (La Malbaie, Que./University of Wisconsin, WCHA).

Wakefield added two goals for a three-point night, while Poulin and Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont./Toronto, CWHL) had a goal and an assist apiece in the victory.

Haley Irwin (Thunder Bay, Ont./Calgary, CWHL) got the scoring started just seconds past the midway mark of the first period, jamming in a rebound on a White power play after Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont./Calgary, CWHL) rang her shot off the post.

The game marked the return to action for Irwin, who missed 22 months dealing with injuries and had not been on the ice with Team Canada since the gold medal game at the 2014 4 Nations Cup.

Wakefield responded just over two minutes later, driving to the net and tucking a backhand around Desbiens to send the game to the first intermission tied 1-1.

Irwin had the lone goal of the second period, beating netminder Erica Howe (Orleans, Ont./Brampton, CWHL) off a feed from Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que./McGill University, RSEQ) to give White a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes, but the third period belonged to Red.

Wakefield snuck a shot through Desbiens to tie the game just 54 seconds into the final stanza, and Red swarmed the White goal throughout the third before Poulin’s game-winner.

Spooner capped the scoring into an empty net with 26.7 seconds to go.

The teams will face Alberta Midget Hockey League competition again Saturday – White is up first, taking on the Flames at 12:30 p.m. MT, followed by Red against the Calgary AAA Royals at 3:45 p.m. MT.

Camp concludes Sunday morning with the second Red-White intrasquad game at 9 a.m. MT.