Women’s Hockey Championship

The 2007 National Women’s Under 18 hockey championship was held in Kitchener this past weekend. Ontario Red won their fourth straight U18 championship by defeating Quebec 4-3 on November 11. Manitoba defeated Team Atlantic 3-2 to take home the bronze medal. Quebec had the top four scorers in the tournament with Audrey Belanger-Cournoyer on top with 15 points (8G, 7A).

Here are the award winners for this tournament:

Most Valuable Player: Audrey Bélanger-Cournoyer (Quebec)

Top Forward: Marie-Philip Poulin (Quebec)

Top Defenseman: Samantha Watt (Alberta)

Top Goaltender: Delayne Brian (Manitoba)

Most Sportsmanlike Player: Laura McIntosh (Ontario Red)

While the U18 women tried to make a name for themselves in the National championship, the women’s National team was in competition at the 4 Nations Cup in Leksand Sweden. The four teams at the 4 Nations Cup include Canada, Team USA, Sweden and Finland. The home nation did not fair so well this year as they were blanked in their first two games, 4-0 by Team USA and 3-0 by Finland. There was a bright spot for them though as they were able to score three times against Canada, the eventual tournament winners.

Team Canada took a perfect record into the gold medal game by defeating Finland 4-1, USA 6-3 and Sweden 5-3. USA’s only blemish was against Canada as they beat Sweden 4-0 and Finland 2-1. Finland’s lone win in the round robin was the 3-0 shutout of Sweden. Both winners in the medal games shutout their opponents as Canada blanked Team USA 2-0 and Finland beat Sweden 1-0.