The Fearless, Frozen Females of Hockey

In a season that culminated with the Princeton Tigers capturing the ECAC regular season championship, there has been a remarkable extra source of motivation. As former two-time Tigers captain Denna Laing suffered a spinal cord injury in the Women’s Winter Classic (contested on New Year’s Eve 2015), the outpouring of love and support from the hockey community, both female and male, has been nothing short of astounding.   Such admiration has been proudly displayed by the Tigers, hoping to raise her spirits while showing the true essence of teamwork and devotion. Earlier in the month, road trips to Dartmouth and Harvard culminated with a visit to Denna Laing in the hospital. Tigers head coach Jeff Kampersal led the roster into the Boston hospital as Laing greeted them with a warm, glowing smile. Senior Maddie Peake, a former teammate of Laing showed leadership by bringing ease and comfort with questions for Laing. The result was a cordial and jubilant experience which also saw Lai...

In a game that took less than two hours to complete, 17 scorers from Les Canadennes de Montreal contributed at least one point as the Boston Blades were pummelled in a 14-0 whitewash. Prevailing by the largest margin of victory by any CWHL team all season, it was another exciting moment in a season filled with many of them for Montreal.   The game-winning goal would be scored at the 5:05 mark of the first as Caroline Ouellette scored on Genevieve Lacasse, who both played together for Canada at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. With Noemie Marin (who earned her 200 th career point earlier this season) and Sophie Brault earning the assists, the hometown fans on-hand at Centre Etienne Desmarteau (nor the Blades for that matter) could not have foreseen the onslaught to come.   Despite ten more minutes of scoreless play in the first, the Blades were unable to mount an offensive attack, managing a meagre two shots in the entire period. First-year player Alyssa Sherrard and O...

As the Brampton Thunder hosted the Toronto Furies, the contest featured a pleasant tone of coincidence, enhanced by the loving presence of a devoted hockey mom. The result was one of the most heartwarming, feel-good stories of the 2015-16 women’s hockey season. Having spent several seasons between the pipes for the Brampton Thunder, Sonja van der Bliek was part of a rare trade, sent to the crosstown Toronto Furies on November 18, 2005 in exchange for a late round 2016 draft pick. With goaltender (and CWHL co-founder) Sami Jo Small on maternity leave, she brings the experience to contribute to the squad’s hopes of qualifying for the postseason. As a side note, the only other trade to take place in the 2015-16 season also involved goaltenders. The New York Riveters and Connecticut Whale exchanged back up goaltenders as Chelsea Laden joins New York, and Shenae Lundberg occupies a new role as the backup to Whale starter Jaimie Leonoff. In an early January 2016 m...

As one of the longest running women’s hockey clubs in Canada, the Brampton Thunder (also known once as the Brampton Canadettes) has a proud heritage of its players competing in the Winter Olympic Games. Starting with the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, the club has enjoyed the privilege of at least one member from its roster competing on the Canadian national women’s team at the Olympic level. Considering that the upcoming 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games signify the 20 Anniversary of Nagano, which was the first women’s ice hockey tournament at the Games, there is no question that current Thunder stars such as Courtney Birchard, Erica Howe, Jocelyne Larocque and Jamie Lee Rattray will all be given consideration for spots on the 2018 roster. Adding to Brampton’s proud legacy is the fact that Lori Dupuis, a two-time Winter Games medalist (silver – 1998, gold – 2002) is doing a superlative job in her third season as the general manager of the Brampton Thunder. On January 31, Du...

Ending the month of January with their “Pink at the Rink” fundraiser, Les Canadiennes de Montreal provided the fans with a true win-win situation. Not only were the pink game-worn jerseys auctioned off for breast cancer research, providing fans with a remarkable treasure, the home team prevailed by a 5-2 tally against the first-place Calgary Inferno. Continuing a proud tradition that began when the club was known as the Montreal Stars, the franchise has become remarkable hockey humanitarians in this noble cause. Taking into account that club founder Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux (currently part of Montreal’s coaching staff) and Caroline Ouellette have seen cherished family members survive the disease, their hearts are filled with compassion on what has evolved into the most popular event during the season.   After a scoreless first period which saw Montreal outshot the visiting team by a 9-4 margin while successfully kill a pair of penalties, Ouellette would factor in the scori...

Continuing to stake her claim as the next superstar in women’s ice hockey, Jamie Lee Rattray finds new ways to impress. Her two-goal performance in the gold medal game of the 2016 Nations Cup proved to be the difference maker as Canada’s U22-Development team prevailed over Finland. With the gold medal proudly adorning her neck, it has now represented the third consecutive year in which Rattray has won at least one major hockey championship. This season continues a run of achievements that can be traced back to 2014, which also signified the end of a major chapter in her hockey career. In her senior year with the Clarkson Golden Knights (based in Potsdam, New York), Rattray captured the prestigious Patty Kazmaier Award, the first in program history to do so. Followign it up with a 2014 Frozen Four championship (the first national title in Clarkson University history), such a glorious ending would only set the stage for the beginning of a sensational legacy. Competing with a g...

For all the speculation about a supposed animosity between the CWHL and the NWHL, both leagues participated in a spectacular showcase of elite women’s ice hockey. The weekend of January 23-24, 2016, shall be remembered as a time that featured two women’s hockey All-Star Games. Hosted at Toronto ’s Air Canada Centre, the second CWHL All-Star Game was played on January 23 and broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet, a prominent Canadian sports network. The following day, the NWHL staged their midseason classic at Harbor Centre, home of the Buffalo Beauts. Taking into account that Buffalo is merely a two-hour drive from Toronto , hardcore women’s hockey fans could easily catch both games live over an unforgettable weekend. Although the NWHL’s All-Star Game was its first, making it a historic event, the reality was that history was a key theme for both games. Toronto Furies blueliner Sena Suzuki, whose experience also involves competing with the Japanese national women’s team, became the...