Normore & Oddy claim silver medal with Team Canada

X-Women hockey forwards Alex Normore and Daley Oddy claimed a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada, Spain. The Canadian squad of CIS all-stars from across the country lost 3-0 to Russia in the gold medal game.

Canada had advanced to the gold medal match with a 5-2 semifinal win over Japan. Normore scored a goal in that game with her StFX teammate Oddy assisting on the goal.

The Universiade marked the second one for Normore who previously won a gold medal with Team Canada in 2013.

Normore did not play in Canada's first preliminary game, a 7-1 victory over Kazakhstan, as she was recovering from a minor injury. She had an assist in Canada's 3-1 preliminary loss to the same Russia squad. Oddy scored a goal and had an assist in the win over Kazakhstan.  

The complete CIS release on the gold medal game follows.

Winter Universiade: Women's hockey
Canada blanked by Russia, settles for silver

It was also Russia's second consecutive win against Canada in Granada as they previously beat the team of CIS all-stars 3-1 in preliminary play, handing Canada's its first-ever Universiade loss in women's hockey in the process.

With the win, Russia becomes the first team other than Canada to capture the FISU gold medal, after Canadian teams triumphed in the three previous tournaments since the sport made its debut in 2009. The Russians also exacted a measure of revenge after losing to the Canucks 5-0 in the gold medal final in Trentino, Italy, in 2013.

Canada also defeated China 3-1 (2009) and Finland 4-1 (2011) in previous gold medal finals.

On Thursday night in the Granada Sport Palace, however, Canada struggled against a powerhouse Russian team that featured eight Olympians. Although the Red and White outshot its competition 40-34, and earned nine power-play opportunities, they could not solve Leksina.

"Special teams were the difference - they were much more organized than we were, and we knew that coming here," noted Team Canada and University of Manitoba head coach Jon Rempel. "When you play a team with that many quality and veteran players like they have you pretty much have to play a perfect game."

"I thought we generated a lot of stuff today," Rempel added, "but we didn't get a lot of second chance opportunities. Of the 40 shots we had there were some quality ones, but just not enough to get through."

After a tense opening period, Russia scored the only goal it needed at 2:16 of the second when Shokhina skated hard to the corner of the Canadian net, freezing University of Montreal goalie Élodie Rousseau-Sirois (Pohénégamook, Que.) on the post, and then going around the net for the wrap-around goal.

The Olympian doubled the lead 3:49 into the third stanza when she buried a power-play tally from the slot.

Forward Valeriia Pavlova scored her first of the tournament with eight minutes remaining to make it a 3-0 game.

Canada's best chances came as the game was winding down. Team captain and 2013 Universiade gold medalist Laura Brooker (Fergus, Ont.) of the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks raced in on a shorthanded breakaway late in the final frame, but was hauled down just as her shot was saved. With Rousseau-Sirois on the bench, the Canucks skated 6-on-4 against Russia, but despite increased pressure, they could not solve Leskina.

"The bounces were going over our sticks - it happens, every league we play in it happens, but this time it got the better of us," said Brooker. "I'm proud of the team and proud of what we did in the last two weeks."

"The girls worked hard - there's no issue with the effort, they worked hard the whole tournament, and I'm proud of them," echoed Rempel. "We had a lot of challenges here, we faced them as they came our way, and we faced them as we could. It's not the colour we came here to get, but you still want to show well. It's important for the girls to go home with something and show something for their hard work, and this group came together quickly and I give them full marks for not quitting."

Earlier on Thursday, Japan beat China 31 to claim the bronze medal.

NOTES: Canada is now 23-2 overall since women's hockey made its Universiade debut in 2009, with both losses coming this year against Russia... Four members of the 2015 team were returning from the 2013 championship squad, including goaltender Élodie Rousseau-Sirois from the University of Montreal, defenceman Brittney Fouracres from McGill, as well as forwards Laura Brooker from Wilfrid Laurier and Alex Normore from StFX.

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter/2015/index 
Granada 2015 website: http://www.granada2015.org/en/   

TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local / 6 hours ahead of EST)

Tuesday, Feb. 4 (20:30): Canada 7 Kazakhstan 1
Sunday, Feb. 8 (20:30): Russia 3, Canada 1
Wednesday, Feb. 11 (13:30): Canada 5, Japan 2 (semi-final)
Thursday, Feb. 12 (20:30): Russia 3, Canada 0 (final) 

SCORING SUMMARY

Official boxscore: http://wuni15.sportresult.com/HIDE/en/-60/Root/ViewPdf/IHW400101_C74_3.0.pdf

Russia 3, Canada 0

SECOND PERIOD

THIRD PERIOD

PENALTIES:
Maggie Medd-Litchfield (CAN) interference, 3:05;
Iya Gavrilova (RUS) slashing, 4:11;
Olga Sosnia (RUS) slashing, 4:50;
Daley Oddy (CAN) slashing, 6:07;
Ekaterina Lebedeva (RUS) cross-checking, 6:07;
Mariia Batalova (RUS) cross-checking, 8:55;
Ariane Barker (CAN) slashing, 15:17;
Jenny MacKnight (CAN) holding, 17:02:
Diana Bulatova (RUS) tripping, 18:50. 

GOALS (by period)
CAN: 0-0-0: 0
RUS: 0-1-2: 3 

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 12-13-15: 40
RUS: 13-11-10: 34 

POWER PLAY:
CAN: 0-9
RUS: 1-7 

GOALTENDERS
CAN – Élodie Rousseau-Sirois (L, 0-2, 34 shots, 31 saves, 3 GA, 58:50)
CAN – Empty net (1:10)
RUS – Yulia Leskina (W, 4-0, 40 shots, 40 saves, 0 GA, 60:00) 

REFEREE: Kaisa Ketonen (FIN)
LINESMEN: Bettina Angerer (AUT), Natasa Pagon (SLO) 

ATTENDANCE: 2,153

START: 20:30
END: 22:38
LENGTH: 2:08 

FINAL POOL STANDINGS 

Pool A

                       GP        W       OTW     OTL        L          GF       GA       PTS

1. JPN              3          3          0          0          0          16        1          9
2. CHN             3          2          0          0          1          14        2          6
3. USA             3          1          0          0          2          11        7          3
4. ESP              3          0          0          0          3          1          32        0 

Pool B

1. RUS             2          2          0          0          0          15        2          6
2. CAN             2          1          0          0          1          8          4          3
3. KAZ             2          0          2          0          0          2          19        0 

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)

About the Winter Universiade

The Winter Universiade is a biennial international multi-sport event open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event. 

The Granada Universiade will feature nine compulsory sports and one optional sport. Compulsory sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, curling, Nordic skiing, short track speed skating, figure skating, synchronized skating, snowboarding. Optional sport: freestyle skiing.

NOTE: Biathlon and nordic skiing will take place in Strbske Pleso and Osrblie, Slovakia from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1, prior to the start of the Games in Granada.