Sask. faces big test in opener
The Scotiabank CIS women’s hockey championship, hosted for the first time by St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B., gets under way Thursday.
The Canada West champion University of Saskatchewan Huskies open up against the defending CIS champion Montreal Carabins.
Game-time is 4 p.m. (Sask. time).
Joining the Huskies (No. 4 seed) and Quebec champion Carabins (No. 1 seed) are No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier (OUA champ), No. 3 Moncton (AUS champ), No. 5 McGill (Quebec finalist) and host St. Thomas, ranked sixth.
Saskatchewan, Montreal and St. Thomas will skate in Pool A, while Laurier, Moncton and McGill battle in Group B during the round robin portion of the tourney.
“I’ve been kind of waiting for it for three years,” says Huskies assistant captain Paige Anakaer, a third-year Huskie. “It’s not in my last year, so it’s great.”
CARABINS CRUISING
The defending CIS champ Carabins picked up right where they left off, going 17-3 in conference play and winning their best-of-three league final 2-1 over powerhouse McGill.
Boasting the top offence in the country (4.65 goals per contest in league play), the reigning champs are led by Ariane Barker (17-15-32 in 19 GP) and team captain Kim Deschênes (13-17-30). Deschênes was MVP of the 2013 CIS championship and captained the Canadian squad to a Winter Universiade gold medal.
The Carabins have been a remarkable story since joining CIS women’s hockey in 2009. They qualified for the national championship in their inaugural season and reached the CIS final for the first time in their third year, dropping a 5-1 gold-medal decision to a star-studded Calgary squad led by Hayley Wickenheiser, before avenging that loss with a 3-2 win over the Dinos in last year’s title match.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far this season,” says coach Isabelle Leclaire. “Our goal is to return to the final. We don’t feel any pressure. We’ve been in this situation before. The difference is, this time around, we have experience on our side and with that comes confidence.”
DOGS BATTLE-TESTED
The Huskies (18-4-6 in Canada West) are coming off an epic Canada West final, which saw them play 17 periods of hockey in three nights against the rival Regina Cougars thanks to eight overtime frames.
This marks Saskatchewan’s second trip to the women’s national tournament.
Captain Cami Wooster, a former Alberta Panda, is the lone Huskie to have CIS championship experience.
“Continued outstanding goaltending and a high level of a will to compete will be critical to our success at the championship,” says U of S coach Steve Kook, adding that his squad’s success has been the result of team play and depth.
SHUT-DOWN ROLE
One of the keys to the Huskies will be the shutdown role played by Paige Anakaer, Cass Jorgenson and Chelsey Sundby.
They contained Canada West scoring champ Tatiana Rafter two weeks in a row.
“It’s real important for the team to be able to shut down the (other team’s) top line,” Anakaer says. “Especially with low-scoring games that we’ve been having recently, it can make a difference.”
FINAL ON SPORTSNET
The gold-medal game will go Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (Sask. time) live on Sportsnet 360 TV.
All games will be webcast live on www.CIS-SIC.tv.