EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ- The Metropolitan Riveters opened up the second half of the season on the right track as they defeated the Connecticut Whale 2-1 on Friday Evening. At the beginning of the season, the Rivs lost Rachel McQuiggie and ended up signing Katie Burt, who has been shaky this season as she came into tonight’s game with a record of 2-4 with 3.29 GAA and .885 sv% however, she kept the Rivs in the game on Friday. In the opening period, The Riveters would get their chances to open up the scoring early but couldn’t convert as the opening frame ended with no pucks finding the back of the net and both teams putting six shots on goal.
However, as the famous saying goes, the third time’s the charm. It would be as the Fanni Gasparics scored on the PP to open the scoring, “It’s been a while since we played here, last weekend some of the girls had the weekend off, and some of us were at the All-Star game. We were excited to be back on the ice, we knew it was going to be a hard game cause Connecticut has a good game plan, the first period was back-and-forth hockey, and our goalie was amazing, but it’s always good to be first on the scoreboard.” The Rivs would head into the third with a 1-0 lead, but the Whale took advantage of a five-on-three as Taylor Girard got the Whale on the board just 38 seconds into the third period. That goal gave the Whale a boost after 40, and the two teams were even in shots. The Whale would outshoot the Rivs 15-9, but neither team would find the scoreboard for the rest of the period and the OT period. Mintuu Tuominen would score the shootout winner, and when asked what was going through her mind, she said, ” I won’t reveal my secrets.” Katie Burt had a solid game making 33 saves in the win, “Obviously, her stepping in has been big for us, but we need that consistency,” said Head Coach Venla Hovi when talking about Burt’s play and tonight since joining the team.
