The York University Lions women's hockey team came away with a dramatic 4-3 shootout victory on home ice against the Laurier Golden Hawks on Friday night (Oct. 30) at Canlan Ice Sports. 
 
A goal by Amy Locke (Toronto) with just 50 seconds remaining on the clock gave the Lions a point, and they finished off the comeback in the shootout when Rianna Langford (Collingwood, Ont.) scored the only goal on York's first shot.
 
In the first period Lions goaltender Megan Lee (Orillia, Ont.) made multiple denials on quality scoring opportunities from the Golden Hawks, keeping the game scoreless through the opening 10 minutes. As Lee was solidifying the pipes for the Lions, she was rewarded with a Raeanna Kelly (Cut Knife, Sask.) goal that was set up by Chelsea Tucker (Alliston, Ont.) and Lauren Cavarzan (Hamilton, Ont.).
 
The York lead would only last a little over a minute and a half, however, as the Golden Hawks came flying down the wings and fired a puck on Lee, which Lee sprawled out to make the initial save but the puck came free and Danielle Wark poked it past the goal line, tying the game up at one goal apiece after the first period.
 
The second period started with a jolt of energy as Stephanie Dovaston (Unionville, Ont.) had two scoring opportunities within 30 seconds but couldn't manage to beat Laurier goaltender Lauren Webber.
 
The Golden Hawks went back to the other end under two minutes into the frame and Erika Kiviaho found the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
 
The Golden Hawks caught a break late in the second period as the faceoff was won by Laurier deep in Lion territory. The Hawks played the puck around until it reached Madison MacCulloch at the point and she rifled it on net that grazed the glove of Lee and found mesh to give her team a 3-1 lead.
 
The Lions got one back before the end of the frame when Dana Somerville (Hockley, Ont.) finished off a give-and-go with Justine Treadwell (Huntsville, Ont.) to cut the lead to 3-2 going into the third.
 
The third featured a defensive pace early until play was halted after an injury to Webber. After a lengthy delay the two teams returned to the ice and the attack was limited until the end of the period, when Locke worked her magic with assists to Tegan Duncan (Oakville, Ont.) and Langford.
 
Both teams earned a power play in the first overtime period of four-on-four but could not capitalize, and the second overtime did not produce a result either. With seconds remaining, Lee made a game-saving save to send it to the shootout.
 
The shootout began with Langford taking the puck at centre ice and with nifty stick-handling she went forehand backhand which she potted to give the Lions the lead. That would stand as the only goal of the shootout to give the Lions the victory, their second on the season to improve to 2-4-0. Laurier suffered its first regulation loss of the year and is now 4-1-1.
 
The Lions are back on the ice on Halloween night on the road to take on the Brock Badgers at 2:15pm in St. Catharines, Ont.