PWHPA Dream Gap Tour: Team Harvey’s and Scotiabank Sweep the Weekend

The PWHPA Dream Gap Tour received attention on Hockey Day in Canada. The weekend had two teams win both their games with skill.

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) continues to gain steam in their quest to create its own professional league while touring North America on the Secret Dream Gap Tour. This past weekend, the PWHPA split games between Collingwood and Owen Sound, Ont., with Saturday’s coverage contributing to Hockey Day in Canada.

Team Harvey’s continued their dominance on the weekend, winning both games.

In the weekend’s opening game, Team Scotiabank earned a 3-0 shutout over Team Adidas. USA national team member Alex Carpenter opened the scoring in the first period by taking a pass from Canadian national team standout Blayre Turnbull before bouncing a shot off an Adidas defender, fooling netminder Shea Tiley.

Emerance Maschmeyer and Kristen Campbell stood tall for Team Scotiabank, stopping breakaways and point-blank attempts to preserve the shutout. Heading to the third up 1-0, Scotiabank’s Rebecca Johnston connected on the power play, blasting a one-timer from the top of the right circle. Kelly Pannek closed out the scoring minutes later as Johnston banked a pass off Pannek on a 2-on-1.

In the second game of the opening day, Team Harvey’s, who has dominated on tour this season, needed a late push to defeat Team Sonnet 3-2.

Sophia Shaver took a pass as the trailer on the rush before going bar down to open the scoring in the first. Team Sonnet tied the scoring at 1-1 midway through the second when Brianne Jenner jumped on a loose puck and went to her backhand, sliding the puck into the net. Immediately off the faceoff, Savannah Harmon scored to put Harvey’s back on top. The back-and-forth action continued in the third when Lillian Ribeirinha-Braga scored on a blast from the point to tie the game 2-2.

With time running down, ‘Captain Clutch’ Marie-Philip Poulin took a pass from Jessie Eldridge off the cycle, where she one-timed the game-winner home, lifting Harvey’s to a 3-2 win.

On Day 2 of the weekend’s Dream Gap Tour stop, Abby Roque got the scoring going after taking a pass in the slot off a Team Scotiabank turnover and making a quick move around Kristen Campbell to give Team Sonnet an early lead. Late in the frame, Tatum Skaggs capitalized, benefitting from Turnbull and Carpenter’s strong positional play on the rush, finding her with room to shoot.

In the second, Scotiabank took their first lead of the game as Nicole Kosta banged home a rebound out front. Rebecca Johnston extended Scotiabank’s lead and continued her strong season, scoring her eighth of the year driving wide around her defender before making a move in tight to score.

From that moment on, it was all Team Scotiabank as Skaggs and Johnston each scored again. Johnston finished the night with four points, while Victoria Bach rounded out the scoring in Team Scotiabank’s lopsided 6-1 win.

Looking to close out the weekend with yet another win, Team Harvey’s faced off against Team Adidas in the final game of the Dream Gap Tour stop. Jamie Lee Rattray took a drop pass from Hayley Scamurra late in the first period before a seeing-eye shot found its way through Maddie Rooney to give Harvey’s the 1-0 lead.

Creeping toward the end of the period, Alexandra Poznikoff stole a puck at her own blueline. She burst down the ice on a breakaway and scored after Rooney got her glove on the shot but couldn’t keep it from trickling across the line.

Rattray scored again to open the second period, making it 3-0 for Team Harvey’s before American star Amanda Kessel finally got Team Adidas on the board, tapping home a ricocheting shot.

Jamie Lee Rattray finished her hat trick in the third period, scoring her eighth goal of the season, while Hayley Scamurra also scored to give Harvey’s a convincing 5-1 win.

Sitting atop the scoring leaderboard is a group of American and Canadian national team members in Marie-Philip Poulin, Rebecca Johnston, Blayre Turnbull, Abby Roque and Jessie Eldridge.

The PWHPA’s next Dream Gap Tour stop partners with the OHL to play in four OHL cities – Kitchener, Barrie, Niagara, and Peterborough – on Feb. 11 and 12 before heading to Tampa Bay at the end of February and Washington in early April.