X-Women Scorer Happy She Moved

Courtesy Glenn MacDonald, The Chronicle Herald

Leaving the University of Prince Edward Island for St. Francis Xavier was a no-brainer for X-Women forward Janelle Parent.

Even if it meant sitting out a season and missing the CIS national championship, hosted by St. F.X. last March.

"I definitely made the right choice by coming here," Parent said earlier this week. "It feels good to be here. I’ve been successful with school and hockey so far so it was a good move for me."

Parent was a rookie with UPEI during the 2008-09 season and led the Panthers in scoring with 16 goals and 28 points in 23 games.

But after the school year, Parent decided to leave the Charlottetown school and transfer to St. F.X. to further her education and eventually play for the powerhouse X-Women.

Parent, because of CIS transfer rules, red-shirted last season with the X-Women. She still travelled with the team and practised with them but couldn’t dress for games. That meant sitting out while St. F.X. hosted nationals.

"The hardest part last year was not playing," Parent said. "I got to practise all the time and I went on all of the road trips with the team but nationals were the hardest to watch. No one wants to be in the stands but I knew it was for the best and I had that in the back of my mind.

"It gave extra motivation coming into this season. I didn’t take anything for granted. It made me play extra harder."

It motivated Parent to lead the country in goals scored with 21 and finish second overall in the CIS with 44 points, one back of Marieve Provost of Moncton. Parent also led all AUS forwards with a plus-30 rating.

That scoring prowess carried over into the Atlantic conference championship. Parent led all scorers with 11 points in three games as St. F.X. captured the AUS banner.

The X-Women’s 9-2 thrashing of Moncton in last Sunday’s conference championship final game in Antigonish gave them their 27th consecutive win in regular-season and post-season play this season.

"We knew we had the opportunity to go far and obviously that happened so it feels good," Parent said. "No one expected an unbeaten season thus far, but we’ll definitely take it."

The X-Women were one of two teams in the country to go undefeated during the regular season and conference playoffs. The other was the McGill Martlets, who are the top seed for the four-day CIS championship, which begins this afternoon in Waterloo, Ont.

St. F.X. is the No. 2 seed, followed by Canada West champions Manitoba Bisons, Ontario conference champs Queen’s Gaels, the host Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and the defending champion Alberta Pandas.

St. F.X. has been placed in a pool with Manitoba and Laurier and will face the Golden Hawks in its opener this evening at 8:30 p.m. The winner will enjoy a day of rest before facing the Bisons on Saturday. The loser will play Manitoba on Friday night.

This marks the X-Women’s 10th trip to nationals and fourth straight appearance. But they have been sub-par at the event, with a CIS championship all-time record of 3-24.

Parent said this may be the year that St. F.X. finally captures an elusive CIS medal.

"We have a good chance of winning some kind of medal, if not gold," Parent said. "We have a strong defensive group and we also have a lot of offence that comes along naturally. After winning AUS we were all excited and pumped about advancing. But we all know there’s yet another step to go. I think this could be our year, for sure."

Note: Blue-liner Jenna Pitts of Antigonish will miss the first two games at nationals. The St. F.X. rookie was handed a three-game suspension for abuse of an official during last Saturday’s game at the AUS championship. She has already served one game after sitting out Sunday’s conference final against Moncton.