Courtesy: Stephen KassimEmily Rose Galliani Pecchia scored the lone shootout goal and rookie goaltender Brianna Tremblay stopped all six Blues shooters to secure the win.
"Any time it goes to a shootout it's pretty dramatic," head coach Lisa Haley said. "I just say my prayers to the hockey gods and hope that our goaltender can keep us in there until we can find a way ... and that's what happened. We're happy that we get to celebrate instead of drowning our sorrows."
The Rams goalie only saw 13 shots in the first two periods, but maintained her focus as U of T peppered her with quality chances in the third, overtime and the shootout.
"She's about 5'1, but she played like she was 6'7," captain Nella Brodett said of her goalie.
At the other end, Pecchia took her coaches advice to shoot on Blues goalie Krista Funke after Funke stopped the five previous dekes.
"I saw that everyone had been deking," Pecchia said. "She's a big goalie, but I have a pretty good shot. Coach (Haley) told me to shoot and I just went down and did what I knew I could do."
U of T opened the scoring at 3:48 of the first period as a trailing Ragan Danford potted the puck on a delayed Rams penalty. Blues forward Kelly O'Hanlon was hauled down on a breakaway, which would have likely lead to a penalty shot, before Amanda Ricker passed the puck out front to Danford.
Ryerson rebounded from the early goal and dominated the second stanza, outshooting the Blues 16-4. Pecchia, the shootout hero, tipped home a Brodett point-shot to even the score at 2:58.
"I think that in the first period we were just getting the jitters out for the first game of the season," Brodett said. "We got that first goal under our belt in the second period and from then on we were relentless."
The Rams outshot the Blues 36-28 and avenged a 2-1 pre-season loss to U of T.
With the first win behind them, the Rams look to take Friday's momentum into the weekend. They host the Queen's Gaels at the MAC on Sunday with puck drop going at 2 p.m.
