Box Score The Varsity Blues women's hockey team scored two goals less a minute apart to help conquer the Nipissing Lakers 3-2 and extend their winning streak to five games on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 3) at Varsity Arena.

Gabrielle De Serres unleashed an absolute mission midway through the second period to give the Blues their first lead of the game. Jessica Robichaud followed it up just 52 seconds later. She finished off a great individual effort to record her second point (1 goal, 1 assist) on the afternoon.

Madeline Albert denied the OUA's top offence throughout the contest. The freshman made 21 saves to pick up her 12 victory of the season. On top of that, she has only surrendered more than two goals once in her last eight games.

The Blues record leaps to 13-0-7-2 (W-OTW-L-OTL), which is good enough for the fourth spot in the OUA. The Lakers fall to 11-3-5-2 on the season. .

Lakers rookie Maria Dominico got behind the defence for a breakaway opportunity less than four minutes in. The OUA's fourth leading scorer added to her point total, going five hole on Albert to open the scoring. 

The Blues started pressing right after the goal. Just past the midway mark of the first period, Julia Szulewska teed one up from the point and it deflected off a Lakers defender along the way, fooling Rochefort to tie it at ones. The score remained 1-1 heading into the first intermission.

The Lakers received a couple of powerplay chances in the second frame. On one of them, Albert was sharp, making three point blank saves in a row to keep the game even. The humanities major stopped 11 shots in the period.

Last night in a victory over Laurentian, Toronto scored two goals within two minutes of one another. They did one better in this contest. Gabrielle De Serres unloaded a rocket from the blue line to regain the advantage at 11:10. Then, Lakers Samantha Strassburger received a body-checking penalty, which put the home team on the powerplay.

Just 52 seconds later, Jessica Robichaud made a gorgeous move around a diving Laker before going between Rochefort's legs for her fourth of the season. U of T kept the 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

Just over two minutes into the third, the Lakers got some assistance to beat Albert. Bronwyn Bolduc's centering pass deflected off of a Blue and found the back of the net to cut the deficit to one.

U of T was able to hold off a couple late attacks from the Lakers the rest of the way.

Toronto host their final home of the season on Friday night (Feb. 9) as they host the No. 7 Queen's Gaels. The team from Kingston has the best record in the OUA at 13-3-2-3. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., at Varsity Centre.

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