The first game on Sunday evening saw Dundalk’s Bulls Ladies face Belfast’s Ice Vixens for the third time this season. The Ice Vixens came out victors on both of those occasions by scores of 3 – 2 and 2 – 0. On both previous occasions, the games were end to end and the players fought until the final buzzer. The 1st period of this game had little to report particularly in the way of goal scoring. Neither team managed to put one in the back of the net but the Ice Vixens did manage three shots on goal. However, former Ice Vixen, Samantha Fleming, stood tall in the goal for the Bulls Ladies and stopped all three. The Bulls Ladies also killed off a power play in the 1st period when they were penalised for too many players on the ice.
The Ice Vixens found themselves with a one goal lead midway through the 2nd period. Jade McCrainor scored after six minutes of play in the period. The Ice Vixens held onto this lead for the remainder of the period despite being outshot 4 – 3 by the Bulls Ladies. Sarah McFarland stopped all four shots that she faced in the period. The Ice Vixens also killed off two power plays in the period when Dorinda Foot and Erica-Kim Murphy were penalised for boarding and interference respectively. The score after the second period remained 1 – 0 with McCrainor’s goal as the only marker of the game.
Early in the 3rd period, the Bulls Ladies found themselves down a player with Rebecca Callan going to the box for tripping. However, the Ice Vixens were unable to capitalise on this and Callan returned to the game while the play was in progress. Midway through the 3rd period, the Ice Vixens doubled their lead through Murphy with Stephanie Hoey picking up the assist. Following this, each team traded penalties with Amie McCabe going to the box for slashing for the Bulls Ladies. Meanwhile, the Ice Vixens’ Emma Horne was penalised for slashing before Kate Morrison was penalised for interference with less than two minutes to play in the game. The final goal of the game came before Morrison found herself in the box when Foot picked up Morrison’s pass to give the Ice Vixens a 3 – 0 win.
A huge thank you to Seánna Conway (Game Supervisor), John Carney (Scorekeeper) and Sean Pepper (Timekeeper) who all volunteered their time for the game.
Sun 14th Feb @ 8:30 pm: Dundalk Bulls Ladies 0 – 3 Belfast Ice Vixens (Dundalk Ice Dome)
Final Score: 0 – 3 (0 – 0, 0 – 1, 0 – 2)
PIM: 6 – 8 (2 – 0, 0 – 4, 2 – 4)
SOG: 5 – 14 (0 – 3, 4 – 3, 1 – 8)
Saves: Fleming (11/14) – McFarland (5/5)