Rookie goaltender Nicole Kesteris made 32 saves and earned her first CIS career shut out to lead the Varsity Blues women’s hockey team to a 1-0 shootout victory over the Queen’s Gaels on Saturday, November 6 at Varsity Arena.

With the win, the Blues improve to 4-4-0-0 and move into sixth place in the OUA standings.

Following a big save from Kesteris (Aurora, Ont.) on Queen’s first shooter Kelsey Thompson, U of T’s rookie forward Amanda Ricker of Kanata, Ont., scored as she sent the puck over the glove of Gaels goaltender Mel Dodd-Moher.

Kesteris came up with another big save on an attempted deke by Gaels forward Morgan McHaffie and second-year Blues forward and Vancouver native Britney Kirby came up with a beautiful deke to seal the 1-0 victory.

Both teams struggled to find their stride in the first period and despite recording 10 shots apiece, neither was able to create any solid scoring opportunities.

Queen’s came out hungry in the second period, out shooting Toronto 13-5 over the next 20 minutes. Fifth-year forward Elizabeth Kench of Gananoque, Ont., almost got the visiting squad on the board in the dying minutes of the second frame but Kesteris came up with a huge glove save to keep the game deadlocked.

The Gaels narrowly outshot the Blues 8-7 in the third; however, the Blues held the upperhand in the five-minute overtime period, recording eight shots.

The Varsity Blues return to action tomorrow afternoon when they host the UOIT Ridgebacks at Varsity Arena. The puck drops at 4 p.m.

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