The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

Heading into the seventh annual IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Hockey Championships, Canada and the United States were the proud recipients of three gold medals each. With Canada having won the last two consecutive gold medals, it only added to the United States motivation. After a scoreless first period at the Budapest Ice Centre, which saw Canada unable to capitalize on two power play opportunities, Sarah Potomak of the Pursuit of Excellence in British Columbia would provide Canada with the lead. After her goal at 15:04 of the second, the flood gates would open as three unanswered goals provided Canada with a three-goal cushion Just 68 seconds after Potomak slipped the puck past US backstop Erin O’Neill, Eve-Audrey Picard of CEGEP Saint-Laurent added to Canada’s lead as Alexandra Labelle (also her teammate at CEGEP Saint-Laurent) and Stephanie Lalancette earned the assists. At the 18:34 mark, Sam Cogan of the PWHL’s Nepean Wildcats made it 3-0 for Canada. Karly Heffernan, who s...

A total of nine goals were logged in a pulse-pounding NCAA Frozen Four contest destined to go down in history as one of its most important matches ever. With the defending two-time national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers entering the contest with a 38-1-1 mark, the crowd at High Point Solutions Arena in Hamden, Connecticut (site of the 2014 Frozen Four) could be forgiven if they believed the Gophers were the heavy favorites. Opposing the Golden Gophers was an ambitious Clarkson Golden Knights program that had reached several milestones. From winning its first-ever ECAC regular season title, the Golden Knights were also competing in their first-ever Frozen Four. Clarkson certainly entered the game with a significant boost of morale. The night before, the 2014 Patty Kazmaier Award was bestowed upon Jamie Lee Rattray, the all-time leading scorer in Golden Knights history. Having beaten Gophers skater Hannah Brandt for the honor, it was a foreshadowing of things to come. Aft...

For the Toronto Furies and the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, the 2014 edition of the Clarkson Cup was filled with drama, excitement and another exciting chapter in the lore of the event. The donnybrook between the Boston Blades and the Toronto Furies resulted in an outcome that provided numerous historic firsts. With Britni Smith having buried the puck past Blades goaltender Brittany Ott just 33 seconds into overtime, it marked the first Clarkson Cup to go into an overtime period. Becoming the first-ever team with a fourth-place regular season finish to hoist the coveted Cup was complemented by the fact that the Furies were the first championship squad with a .500 regular season record. The road to the Clarkson Cup began with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Inferno, who were making their postseason debut in 2014.   Toronto   battled back from a 1-0 deficit to prevail by a 3-2 tally. Two-point performances by Meagan Aarts, Tessa Bonhomme and Natalie Spooner helped con...

The premier rivalry in Canadian women’s hockey played itself out on the ice at Grant Harvey Centre in St. Thomas University as the McGill Martlets faced off against the Montreal Carabins in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport National Championship. With a rivalry as intense as Duke vs. North Carolina in basketball or Miami vs. Florida State in football, these two hockey powerhouses provided another epic confrontation. With McGill legends Charline Labonte and Melodie Daoust (both competed with Canada in a gold medal effort at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games) participating in the ceremonial face-off, it provided the fans at St. Thomas with a rare chance to see two of the finest in the game today. Complemented by Tessa Bonhomme providing on-air commentary (the match was broadcast on SportsNet 360), there was definitely a major league feeling to the contest. Gabrielle Davidson, who led her conference with 28 goals scored, would open the scoring for McGill at the 5:55 mark of the openin...

The March 8 contest between the Montreal Stars and the Boston Blades at the Arena Etienne-Desmarteau encompassed many unique elements. From the outset, the Stars enjoyed a sold-out crowd of 14,000 fans as they held their annual Breast Cancer fundraiser. Of note, several players from the IWFL’s Montreal Blitz, the Tier II champions of 2013, were on-hand to show their support. Adding to the spectacle was the fact that several CWHL stars, including the likes of Julie Chu, Hilary Knight, Genevieve Lacasse and Caroline Ouellette were returning to league play after remarkable performances at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. With CWHL commissioner Brenda Andress participating in the ceremonial face off, the aforementioned (along with Lauriane Rougeau and Catherine Ward who were inactive for the game) joined her at centre ice. As Stars players were standing proudly on the blue line adorned in pink jerseys (which were auctioned off afterwards for Breast Cancer research), captains Cathy Cha...

While the challenge to become the first nation to grab four consecutive gold medals in women’s hockey at the Winter Games brought with it a significant amount of pressure, the support of two of the most successful Canadian women to compete in bobsled supplied an inspiring and comforting source of motivation. A thoughtful hand-written letter to the women’s team not only brought with it a touch of class, but it captured the hearts and minds of Canadians from coast-to-coast. Its legend only grew when famed Canadian hockey commentator Ron McLean showed the letter on CBC Television, prior to the broadcast of the gold medal finale. As the Canadian national team held their Centralization Camp in Calgary, Alberta, the same city where many of the training facilities for Winter Sports athletes (such as Moyse and Humphries) exist, a friendship with the accomplished bobsledders developed prior to Sochi. With it, a mutual respect for the hard work and sacrifice needed to be considered the wo...

One of the most talented goaltenders under 25 years of age in women’s hockey, Genevieve Lacasse can certainly be classified as an international superstar in waiting. Her involvement as a member for Team Canada in a gold medal effort at the Sochi Winter Games served as the final piece towards membership into the Triple Gold Club. The last three years have netted Lacasse all the components necessary to become only the second goaltender admitted into the exclusive Club, the first being fellow Canadian, Kim St. Pierre. Beginning in 2012 as a member of the Canadian contingent that claimed the gold at the IIHF Women’s Worlds in Burlington, Vermont, Lacasse would follow it up one year later with a memorable performance in Markham, Ontario. Standing between the pipes for the Boston Blades, Lacasse would backstop the black and gold to their first-ever Clarkson Cup championship. The experience was enhanced by the fact that she was the first rookie goaltender to win the Clarkson, along w...