X-Women finish fourth at CIS championship

QF 1: CIS women's hockey championship
Carabins claim fourth medal in six years with win over X-Women

CALGARY (CIS) – A disallowed goal in the dying minutes of the third period against the fourth seeded StFX X-Women solidified a 2-1 bronze medal win for the No. 6 Montréal Carabins Sunday afternoon at the 2015 CIS women's hockey championship.

Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice/index

Laurence Beaulieu set up the Carabins first goal at the end of the first period and the eventual game winner, which came early in the second to help her team claim victory over the X-Women and take home the bronze medal.

"We were aiming at a gold medal, but on the plus side I'm very proud of the way we played and behaved knowing we could have got to the gold medal, especially to lose in a heartbreaking game," said Montréal's head coach Isabelle Leclaire. "The way we bounced back and stuck together, it was a tough medal to get and I'm very proud of this team."

A team that's been known for their come from behind wins fell just short of sending the bronze medal game to overtime. Cutting Montréals lead to one mid-way through the final stanza. Momentum seemed to shift StFX's way near the end of the period when Alex Normore passed the puck through a Montreal defender on a two-on-one to Kara Power who was alone in front, who appeared to tip the puck in as Elodie Rousseau-Sirios knocked the net off as the refs disallowed the goal.

The Carabins held pressure in StFX's end for majority of the first period and the second throwing all shots towards the net, outshooting StFX 12-8 in the opening period, but were unable to solve Sojung Shin until the end of the period on the power play when Jessica Cormier tipped a point shot into the back of the net.

The game winner from France's national team forward Emmanuelle Passard was her first goal of the tournament, coming early in the second period. Beaulieu made a pass from below the goal line out to Passard who sent it low blocker side past Shin.

The X-Women stepped up their offensive play in the third period looking to find their way onto the scoreboard. Power received a pass from Schyler Campbell in the far corner and fired a quicker wrister past Rousseau-Sirios, pulling within one goal with 9:39 left on the clock.

It was too little too late for StFX though as their season game to a close on a loss due to a disallowed goal that could have tied the game.

"We had a great performance, I think that's what our team has been doing all year. They just battle and they won't quit. If we get behind, they don't quit," said StFX head coach Ben Berthiaume. "It gives us the opportunity to come back if we're down in any games. Overall I thought we played very well."

Montreal adds another medal to their collection after only establishing their program six years ago. They have been an active competitor winning the title in 2013 and finishing second in 2012 and 2014. This bronze medal is the first in the team's history.

"The way we build the program right from the start, we aim for excellence and have a very high standard. We're trying to build this team like you would build a national team," explained Leclaire "I'm extremely proud that in our six years of existence we've been here five times and have four medals."

StFX still chases that elusive first place finish; this fourth place finish is their second in history. They were close to the title in 2011 when they finished second, which is their best finish to date.

Montreal outshot StFX 32-28 and went 1-6 on the power play while StFX was 0-3 with the man advantage.

Rousseau-Sirios turned away 27 shots to help lead her team to victory, while Shin stopped 30 in a losing cause for the X-Women. Josianne Legault and Daley Oddy won the respective player-of-the-game honours for their teams.

SCORING SUMMARY 

Official Boxscore: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice/2015/championship 

FIRST PERIOD 

1. MTL Jessica Cormier (1) (Josianne Legault, Laurence Beaulieu), 16:53 PP 

PENALTIES: 

Power (STFX) goaltender interference, 11:56;
Campbell (STFX) interference, 16:51;
Downey (STFX) slashing, 17:24.

SECOND PERIOD 

2. MTL Emanuelle Passard (Laurence Beaulieu), 1:22

PENALTIES: 

Meyer (STFX) hooking, 6:47;
Pilon-Robert (MTL) hooking, 9:56;
Duval (MTL) roughing, 19:05.  

THIRD PERIOD 

3. STFX Kara Power (Schyler Campbell, Alex Normore), 11:21

PENALTIES: 

Winters (STFX) hooking, 3:38;
Downey (STFX) cross checking, 4:17;
Barker (MTL) hooking, 17:34. 

GOALS (by period)

MTL 1-1-0: 2
STFX 0-0-1: 1 

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)

MTL12-10-10: 32
STFX 8-12-8: 28 

POWER PLAY:

MTL 1-6
STFX 0-3 

GOALTENDERS

MTL – Elodie Rousseau-Sirois (W, 2-1, 28 shots, 27 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)
STFX – Sojung Shin (L, 1-2, 30 shots, 32 saves, 2 GA, 59:12) 

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

MTL: Josianne Legault
STFX: Daley Oddy 

REFEREE: Lacey Senuk  
LINESMEN: Shannon Klein, Cydnie Brice  

ATTENDANCE: 277  

START: 2:30
END: 4:28
LENGTH: 1:58  

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Thursday, March 12

15:00 Quarter-final 1: StFX 4, Guelph 3
19:00 Quarter-final 2: McGill 8, Calgary 2  

Friday, March 13

11:00 Consolation 1: Guelph 4, Calgary 2
15:00 Quarter-final 3: Western 3, Moncton 1
19:00 Quarter-final 4: Montreal 4, Alberta 3   

Saturday, March 14

11:00 Consolation 2: Moncton 4, Alberta 1
15:00 Semifinal 1: McGill 1, StFX 0
18:30 Semifinal 2: Western 2, Montreal 0 Sunday, March 15

Sunday, March 15

11:00 5th-place game: Guelph 4, Moncton 1
14:30 Bronze: Montreal 2, StFX 1
18:00 No. 1 McGill vs Western (Sportsnet 360 & ONE / www.CIS-SIC.tv) *