Normore tallies 12 points as Canada finishes round robin 5-0

StFX forward Alex Normore from Bedford, NS wrapped up round robin play at the Winter Universiade in Italy with 12 points (5 goals and 7 assists) as Canada leads the tournament with a 5-0 record. She scored two goals in their 9-1 win over Japan on Tuesday. Her X-Women teammate Jenna Pitts (Antigonish, NS) joins her on the Canadian squad.

Winter Universiade: Women's hockey
Canada downs Japan, on top after round robin

Dec. 16, 2013

TRENTINO, Italy (CIS) – 

Led by an Amanda Parkins hat-trick, the Canadian women's hockey team dominated Japan 9-1 on Monday morning to complete the round-robin portion of the Winter Universiade tournament in first place with an unblemished 5-0 record.

The two teams will meet again in Thursday's second semifinal at 2 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Trentino), while the early Final Four matchup will see Russia face off against the United States at 10 a.m. EST. The Russians, Americans and Japanese all posted 3-2 marks in the preliminary round.

Canada is looking for its third straight FISU title, after winning the inaugural Universiade tourney in 2009 in China and repeating in 2011 in Turkey.

Against Japan, the CIS all-stars jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first frame and led 3-0 after 40 minutes, before exploding for six goals in the final stanza. They held a decisive advantage in shots on goals in each period, including 17-3 in the first, 16-2 in the second and 19-4 in the third.

"That was by far our toughest opponent to date and they played a great game for the first two periods," said head coach Howie Draper from the University of Alberta. "They were intense, played hard and were disciplined both offensive and defensively. It was a great test for our players and I'm glad they responded the way they did. We made seamless adjustments throughout the game and continued to get better, which has been our goal all along.
 
"We have some great leaders in the dressing room and they know what's at stake. No matter who we play, we are focussed and eager for the medal round."

Parkins, a forward from the University of Guelph, opened the scoring 12:36 into the contest, notched the lone goal of the middle frame and made it 6-0 during a power play 5:55 into the third. The Kitchener, Ont., native has found the back of the net in all five games since the start of the competition and ranks second in the tournament with eight markers, two behind Team Canada teammate Gabrielle Davidson.

Davidson, who skates for McGill University, was also in on the action in the round-robin finale, tallying a goal and two assists to bring her Universiade-leading points total to 18 (10-8-18). The product of Pte. Claire, Que., has also scored in five straight contests.

Rounding out the scoring for the Red and White were StFX's Alex Normore, with a pair, as well as Guelph's Jessica Pinkerton, UBC's Tatiana Rafter and Manitoba's Caitlin MacDonald. Jenna Smith of the Calgary Dinos contributed four helpers, while McGill's Katia Clément-Heydra and Montreal's Josianne Legault had two apiece.

Ayano Ichijo broke netminder Élodie Rousseau-Sirois' shutout bid with only 46 seconds left in the game, during a man advantage.

Rousseau-Sirois, another Montreal Carabins star, made eight saves to earn her third victory of the event. At the other end of the ice, Japanese starter Maeda Hazuki allowed seven goals on 44 shots before being replaced by Yae Unosawa, who was beaten twice on eight shots.

GAME NOTES: Six Canadians top the tournament leading scorers list, including Davidson (10-8-18), Clément-Heydra (2-12-14), Legault (5-8-13), Normore (5-7-12), Saskatchewan's Cara Wooster (4-8-12) and Parkins (8-3-11)... Canada is now 19-0 all-time at the Universiade tourney and has outscored its opponents by a 154-12 margin overall.

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter/2013/index
Trentino 2013 website: http://www.universiadetrentino.org/en  
           
TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local / 6 hours ahead of EST)

Dec. 10 (20:00): Canada 21, Spain 0
Dec. 12 (16:00): Canada 5, Russia 0
Dec. 13 (12:00): Canada 13, Great Britain 0
Dec. 15 (20:00): Canada 9, USA 1
Dec. 16 (16:00): Canada 9, Japan 1
Dec. 18 (16:00): Russia vs. USA (semifinal #1)
Dec. 18 (20:00): Canada vs. Japan (semifinal #2)
Dec. 19 (16:00): 5th place
Dec. 20 (16:00): Bronze
Dec. 20 (20:00): Final

SCORING SUMMARY (official boxscore: BOXSCORE)
 
Canada 9, Japan 1

FIRST PERIOD
 
SCORING:
 
1. CAN Amanda Parkins (6) (Jenna Smith, Josianne Legault), 12:36
2. CAN Jessica Pinkerton (4) (Kim Deschênes, Gabrielle Davidson), 13:12
 
PENALTIES:

(none)
 
SECOND PERIOD
 
SCORING:

3. CAN Amanda Parkins (7) (Jessica Pinkerton, Jenna Smith), 7:11

PENALTIES:

Sato Kikuchi (JPN) holding, 12:39.
 
THIRD PERIOD
 
SCORING:

4. CAN Tatiana Rafter (5) (Cara Wooster, Katia Clément-Heydra), 1:10
5. CAN Alex Normore (4) (Laura Brooker, Jenna Smith), 4:01
6. CAN Amanda Parkins (8) (Tatiana Rafter, Katia Clément-Heydra), 5:55 PP
7. CAN Caitlin MacDonald (2) (Gabrielle Davidson, Josianne Legault), 6:38
8. CAN Alex Normore (5) (Jenna Smith, Kimberley Wong), 7:53
9. CAN Gabrielle Davidson (10) (Josianne Legault, Katia Clément-Heydra), 13:51
10. JPN Ayano Ichijo (2) (Rio Sakamoto, Mai Morii), 19:14 PP

PENALTIES:

Asami Ohashi (JPN) holding, 5:10;
Miyuka Yoshida (JPN) holding, 8:58;
Sophie Brault (CAN) tripping, 18:42.

GOALS (by period)
CAN: 2-1-6: 9
JPN: 0-0-1: 1
 
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 17-16-19: 52
JPN: 3-2-4: 9
 
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 1-3
JPN: 1-1
 
GOALTENDERS
CAN – Élodie Rousseau-Sirois (W, 3-0, 9 shots, 8 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)
JPN – Hazuki Maeda (L, 2-2, 44 shots, 37 saves, 7 GA, 46:38)
JPN – Yae Unosawa (8 shots, 6 saves, 2 GA, 13:22)
 
REFEREE: Melissa Szkola (USA)
 
LINESMEN: Jackie Spresser (USA), Svenja Strohmenger (GER)

ATTENDANCE: -

START: 16:00
END: 17:57
LENGTH: 1:57

PRELIMINARY ROUND STANDINGS (1 game left: USA-ESP)

GP W OTW OTL L GF GA PTS
1. Canada 5 5 0 0 0 57 2 15        
2. Russia 5 3 0 0 2 35 12 9
3. Japan 5 3 0 0 2 20 15 9
4. USA  4 2 0 0 2 7 14 6
5. Great Britain 5 0 1 0 4 5 39 2
6. Spain 4 0 0 1 3 2 44 1

Scoring system:
3 points for a win in regulation
2 points for a win in overtime or shootout
1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout

Legend: W (win), OTW (OT win), OTL (OT loss), L (loss)