Courtesy of Kelsey Pye (host organizing committee)
FREDERICTON (CIS) – The reigning champion
Université de Montreal Carabins are headed to the gold medal
game for the third straight year after defeating the tournament
host St. Thomas University Tommies 4-0 Saturday night in the final
Pool A game of the Scotiabank CIS women's hockey championship in
Fredericton.
The Carabins will play archrival McGill on Sunday night, after the
Martlets secured their spot with an 8-2 win over Moncton in the
Pool B finale, Saturday afternoon. Sunday's CIS final will be
televised on Sportsnet 360 at 6:30 p.m. Atlantic Time (5:30
ET).
The Montreal-McGill overall series is tied at 4-4 this season,
with the Martlets taking three of five duels in conference play but
the Carabins winning the best-of-three RSEQ final in three
matches.
Isabelle Leclaire, whose Carabins lost to Calgary in the 2012 CIS
final but defeated the same Dinos a year ago to claim their first
national banner, said this game was great preparation for the
final.
"St. Thomas gave us a very good game...I'm pretty sure they played
their best hockey of the season. You can't ask for a better
preparation. I think they tested us today, so I'm happy about that.
We had to step it up," she said.
The game started with high energy levels from both teams. St.
Thomas applied lots of pressure and did a good job of stopping
Montreal at the blue line. Slowly the Carabins gained speed, and at
16:54 Maude Gélinas scored a power-play goal to get Montreal
on the board. Shots favoured the Carabins 14-6 after 20.
The Tommies were able to bring the play to the Montreal zone more
in the second period, but a shorthanded goal by Carabins forward
Ariane Barker put the Tommies in a two-goal deficit. STU goaltender
Kristin Wolfe came out to play the puck but missed, and Barker
easily slipped it into the empty net. The Tommies had lots of bad
turnovers in the neutral zone, but managed to keep the score 2-0.
At the end of the second, Montreal had 27 shots to STU's 18.
St. Thomas received a penalty at the 20:00 mark of the second
period, so Montreal started the third with a power-play. Audrey
Gariépy of the Carabins netted Montreal's third goal at
1:25. STU tried to keep pace and managed to tie up the Carabins
more along the boards. Montreal's Katherine Richard finalized the
4-0 win at 18:31. The Tommies recorded 23 shots, while STU's
Kristin Wolfe faced 34 from Montreal.
Audrey Gariépy and Ariane Barker both recorded a goal and an
assist.
Montreal's goaltender Élodie Rousseau-Sirois said she can't
wait to be back in the gold medal game.
"It's really fun to be back in the final for the third time in a
row. We worked hard all year for that. Everything that happened in
the past is now forgotten - we start from scratch," she said.
St. Thomas will now go on to play Moncton Sunday morning for fifth
spot. Tommies head coach Peter Murphy said that game still counts
for everything.
"You don't play at this level to lose. You don't go places to lose.
You play to win...We'll go and represent the university well
tomorrow morning, just like we did today and just like we did
yesterday."
Scotiabank CIS women's hockey championship action continues Sunday
at 10 a.m. AT when St. Thomas and Moncton compete for fifth place.
Saskatchewan and Laurier will play for bronze at 2 p.m.
SCHEDULE, RESULTS & POOL STANDINGS (all times ATLANTIC TIME)
Pool
A GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1.
MTL 2 2 0 0 0 7 0 6
2. SASK 2 1 0 0 1 3 5 3
3.
STU 2 0 0 0 2 2 7 0
Pool
B GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1.
McG 2 2 0 0 0 12 3 6
2. WLU 2 1 0 0 1 7 4 3
3.
MCT 2 0 0 0 2 2 14 0
NOTE (scoring system):
Win in regulation (W): 3 points
Win in overtime or shootout (OTW): 2 points
Loss in overtime or shootout (OTL): 1 point
Loss in regulation (L): 0 point
Thursday, March 13
14:00 Pool B #1: McGill 4, Wilfrid Laurier 1
19:00 Pool A #1: Montreal 3, Saskatchewan 0
Friday, March 14
14:00 Pool B #2: Wilfrid Laurier 6, Moncton 0
19:00 Pool A #2: Saskatchewan 3, St. Thomas 2
Saturday, March 15
14:00 Pool B #3: McGill 8, Moncton 2
19:00 Pool A #3: Montreal 4, St. Thomas 0
Sunday, March 16
10:00 5th Place: No. 3 Moncton vs. No. 6 St. Thomas (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
14:00 Bronze: No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier vs. No. 4 Saskatchewan (www.CIS-SIC.tv)
18:30 Final: No. 5 McGill vs. No. 1 Montreal (Sportsnet 360 &
www.CIS-SIC.tv)
* The webcast of the championship final will be on pay-per-view basis.
About Canadian Interuniversity Sport
Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, 11,000 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 55 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:
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