Les Canadiennes face showdown with CWHL’s hottest team
Les Canadiennes, who are coming off their eighth Canadian Women’s Hockey League regular-season title, begin their defence of last season’s Clarkson Cup championship this weekend when they face the Markham Thunder in a best-ofthree semifinal series.
The Montreal team topped the regular-season standings last weekend when they swept the Calgary Inferno, the runner-up in the Clarkson Cup last spring. They’ll now face the hottest team in the CWHL as Markham won its last seven games to edge out the Chinabased Vanke Rays for fourth place.
Les Canadiennes feature the most explosive offence in the women’s league, led by Ann-Sophie Bettez, who had 19 goals and 39 points. They boast the top two all-time leading goal-scorers in the CWHL. Noémie Marin passed teammate Caroline Ouellette this season and Ouellette passed Jayna Hefford with her 131st goal, but Marin finished the season with 133. Ouellette rejoined the team late in the season after taking time out to have a baby.
The retirement of Charline Labonté left a vacancy in goal, but Les Canadiennes traded for Calgary goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer and she enjoyed an impressive season with 18 wins, setting a CWHL single-season record with six shutouts. She posted a 1.78 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
Both teams will benefit from the addition of players returning from the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Les Canadiennes added forward Hilary Knight and defenceman Lauriane Rougeau. Knight was part of the U.S. team that won the gold medal, while Rougeau won silver with Team Canada.
Markham has bolstered its defence with the return of Canadian Olympians Jocelyne Larocque and Laura Fontino, and the addition of 2012 U.S. Olympian Megan Bozek.
Montreal won the season series against Markham 5-0, but all five games were decided by one goal and none of the new defencemen played in those games.
Jamie Lee Rattray had a breakthrough season for Markham with 39 points, including 22 goals. She goes into the playoffs on a 16-game scoring streak.
The first game in the series will be played at Michel-Normandin Arena on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 is scheduled for the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, will be played at Michel-Normandin Arena on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.