Montreal Carabins take title
The moral of the story on Sunday afternoon, determined quite early on, was this: stay out of the penalty box or the Montreal Carabins will make you pay.
Alas, the UBC Thunderbirds paid the heftiest price, with an opportunity to win their first CIS women’s hockey title.
Special teams, as in a lethal power play and a smart penalty-kill, help make up one special team and the Carabins proved that this weekend in Calgary, winning its second national crown — the first came in 2013 — with an 8-0 whitewash of the Thunderbirds.
“It means that after winning gold we kept moving in the right direction, having this program continue to progress to what we are today,” said head coach Isabelle Leclaire. “The future is really bright for us ... we lose four huge pieces ... but if you look at the young players, we have a bright future and that’s very encouraging.”
Not so much for the rest of the country.
Saint Mary’s claimed its first ever bronze medal with a 3-1 upset over the top-seeded Guelph Gryphons while the host Calgary Dinos ended the tournament on an up-side, blanking St. Thomas 4-0 to finish in fifth place.
The opportunistic Carabins, the Quebec champs, made the most of their chances, scoring on just 18 shots. It’s not the first time they’ve been outshot this tournament but, unlike other teams, they bury the ones they get.
“That’s what I like about this edition,” added Leclaire. “Here we didn’t get many shots while in the regular season we have an average of 40 shots per game. What we learned is you have to find a way to win, if we stick to the plan.”
“I’m very proud of the team,” pitched in Alexandra Labelle, who had a hat trick. “The Carabins get a lot of good opportunities. And we have a really good goalie. She had a great season in Quebec and she had the confidence.”
Montreal’s fourth power play goal and fifth over-all, coming on just 10 shots at 17:05 of the second, spelled the end for veteran UBC netminder Danielle Dube, who suffered from lack of support. At the other end, Marie-Pier Chabot continued her stellar play, notching her second shutout in three games. She was appropriately chosen as tournament MVP.
“It’s the best moment of my hockey career, for sure,” said the third-year goalie. “It’s so easy to play well with this team, they play so well defensively. They make my job so much easier. We put it in the net every chance we get and it makes it so much easier to play when you get the lead.”
Also scoring for Montreal were Alexandra Paradis, Casandra Dupuis, Maude Laramee, Emmanuelle Passard and Ariane Barker.
The Dinos, meanwhile, rebounded smartly from a heartbreaking loss to Montreal in their tournament opener. The next morning they dumped Western 3-1, then early Sunday took care of the Tommies in the consolation final.
“I talked to them about how proud I am of them,” Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette explained. “I told them this team is something special. It’s a team that never quit. We didn’t have a good start of the season ... and we had that window of hope to make the playoffs and they went after it.
“We lost our game against Montreal and they went to the final. Man, we showed up today. I keep telling them, you build your life with what you go through. It’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you’re going to get up. And this team this year just keeps getting up.”
In Sunday’s game, graduating forward and all-Canadian Iya Gavrilova had a goal and two assists, while Delaney Frey, Sasha Vafina and Heather Berzins added singles. Hayley Dowling made 33 saves for the shutout.
“Iya is a great player, but when you think about four years ago when she came to the program, Iya had a problem with the defensive zone,” noted Goyette. “She improved so much because of the work she’s put into it, on and off the ice. She’s such a great role model for our student-athletes.”