It’s Super Bowl weekend, and the Markham Thunder are in New England to take on the Worcester Blades in a two-game series. With the season drawing to a close and Markham in the fourth and last playoff spot, they’re looking to pick up a few points against the already-mathematically eliminated Blades to widen their lead on the fifth-place Furies.

Markham’s third-string goalie and 2018 draft pick Elijah Milne-Price got the start for the Thunder, with Jocelyne Larocque and Kristen Barbara on the back end, and a starting forward line of Jess Jones and Nicoles Kosta and Brown. This is Milne-Price’s first CWHL start.

For the Worcester Blades, they went with Mariah Fujimagari in net, Lauren Williams and Alexis Miller on defense, and Chelsey Goldberg, Meghan Turner, and Morgan Turner at forward.

First Period

The Blades opened the scoring at about five and a half minutes in, Demi Crossman scoring her second goal of the season.

At eight and a half minutes in Taryn Harris took a cross-checking penalty, and it did not take long for the Thunder to convert, with Jamie Lee Rattray picking up the powerplay tally.

The period ended with the score tied 1-1. Shots were almost even, 17 for the Thunder and 16 for the Blades.

Second Period

Just under four minutes into the period, Crossman took a body-checking penalty, and this time, Rattray needed even less time—nine seconds, to be specific—to put the puck past Fujimagari.

Worcester got their first power play opportunity at around the halfway mark when Larocque was called for interference.

With just under five minutes left to go, Nicole Brown made it 3-1 for Markham, off a pass from linemate and fellow Nicole, Kosta.

Barely a minute later, Jenna McParland added another to bring the score to 4-1.

The shot count this period was considerably more skewed; 18 for Markham and 5 for the Blades.

Third Period

Rattray completed her hat trick five minutes into the period, unassisted. It was an extremely good, and extremely Jamie Lee Rattray-like, goal.

Shortly after, Taryn Harris took her second penalty of the game, this time for roughing. The Thunder did not waste this opportunity. Jones made it 6-1 for Markham, their third power play goal of the evening.

With exactly one second remaining in the game, Laura Stacey scored her sixth of the season to give Markham the touchdown. The final score was 7-1; the Thunder outshot the Blades 19 to 8 in the third period, and 53 to 29 for the game.

Three Stars

3rd: Demi Crossman, Worcester Blades (1g)

2nd: Jenna McParland, Markham Thunder (1g, 1a)

1st: Jamie Lee Rattray, Markham Thunder (3g, 1a)

Notes

  • Elijah Milne-Price only allowed one goal and got her first CWHL win in her first CWHL start. Congratulations to her!
  • Jess Jones’ goal was her 50th career CWHL goal, all of which have come with the Thunder organization.
  • This was also Jamie Lee Rattray’s first CWHL hat trick, which surprised me a bit! She had a four-point night, because she is just the best.
  • The Markham power play was clearly clicking tonight—they scored on all three of their opportunities.
  • The close first period should remind the Thunder (and the rest of the league) that while the Blades haven’t won a game yet this season, a weekend in Worcester is still not a time to get cocky./

The Thunder go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 pm. Worcester stream most home games on their Youtube channel.

Women's HockeyCanadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL)