In the third appearance by a Manitoba Bison women’s hockey team at a CIS National
Championship, the #5 seeded Bisons lost to the #1 seeded McGill Martlets by a score of
6-0 in the first game of the four-day championship. The game was played in front of a
loud crowd at the University of Ottawa Sports Complex.

Manitoba will now play #4 seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Women (AUS Champion) on Saturday,
March 8 at 3 p.m. CT.

In the first period, both teams started out with a high energy from the start. Manitoba
survived an early penalty call on defenceman Brenna Leary at the 46 second mark. Four
minutes into the game, the Herd had their own chance on the power play, but neither team
was able to take advantage of the opportunity.

Manitoba’s starting goalie Stacey Corfield held off against the Martlet’s numerous shots
as they held at 12-3 lead on shots on goal in the first period, including a couple of
diving saves, not giving up a goal until deep into the first (17:34, Alessandra
Lind-Kenny, assisted by Jordanna Peroff and Rebecca Martindale). The Bison offense got in
three shots of their own, most of which came in the second half of the first as they got
into the rhythm of the game. The Bisons headed into the locker room for a breather one
down after one.

Another early penalty against the Bisons started the second period and the Martlets
capitalized at 1:02 (Alyssa Cecere, assisted by Vanessa Davidson and Martlets’ starting
goaltender Charline Labonte). Immediately after, a penalty was called on the Martlets
followed by back-to-back penalties against the Bisons. The Bisons survived the power
plays, but the Martlets struck again at 11 minutes into the second when Cecere scored her
second of the game  and McGill led 3-0. Corfield made several difficult saves against
Davidson and Catherine Ward. The Bisons had a great opportunity on overlapping penalties
and had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:37 served, but were unable to score. Katherine O’Rourke
had the best chance but shot over Labonte in the slot. At the end of the period, Manitoba
served their own 5-on-3 but held off the Martlets for the final 1:25 of the period.

The Bisons had three shots on goal for the period (vs. 14 by the Martlets), and headed
into the locker room down by three.

It was the Martlets who took the early penalty in the third but the Martlets’ Shauna
Denis scored a short-handed goal at 1:45, assisted by Cathy Chartrand.

Manitoba’s next power play opportunity was interrupted by back-to-back penalties of their
own. At the end of the final penalty, the Martlets took advantage again at 9:28 for their
fifth goal of the game when Ward scored assisted by Davidson and Denis.

The Martlets scored again to end the scoring with Ward’s second of the night when she
fired a point blank shot past Corfield’ glove hand side. The Bisons best scoring chance
came late in the game when Tammy Brade was open in the slot but Labonte made the save and
the Martlets walked away with a 6-0 loss.

Final shots tally: 39 for the Marlets, 10 for the Bisons.

Players of the game:
Centre Katherine O’Rourke
For McGill: Forward Lind-Kenny (1st goal of the game)

The Championship is divided into two pools. Teams will play one game against each Pool
opponent and the winner of Pool A and Pool B will advance to the Championship Final.

Stats on the CIS Championship website at:
www.cisport.ca/e/championships/w_hockey/2008/results.cfm

McGill 6 Manitoba 0

Goal scoring

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. McGill Alessandra Lind-Kenny (1) (Peroff, Martindale), 17:34

PENALTIES:

Man – Braun (hooking) 0:48, McGill – Elzinga (interference) 3:59.

 

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

2. McGill – Aylssa Cecere (1) (Davidson, Labonte) 1:02 (pp)

3. McGill – Alyssa Cecere (2) (Ward, Zane) 11:00

PENALTIES:

Man – Kisil (tripping) 0:12, McGill - Chartrand (roughing) 1:20, Man - Coates (tripping) 4:49, Man – Brade (roughing) 6:46, Man – Kisil (roughing) 12:49, McGill – Merrifield (tripping) 14:01, McGill – Ward (interference) 14:24, Man – Braun (interference) 17:09, Man – Holmes (cross-checking) 18:39

 

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

4. McGill – Shauna Denis (1) (Chartrand) 1:45 (sh)

5. McGill - Catherine Ward (1) (Davidson, Denis) 9:28 (pp)

6. McGill - Catherine Ward (2) (Chartrand) 11:54

PENALTIES:

McGill – Hill (roughing) 1:21, McGill – Chartrand (cross-checking) 5:54, Man - Miles (high-sticking) 7:20, Man – Leary (body contact) 7:10, Man – Messner (roughing) 12:14, McGill – Gauvin (roughing) 14:32.

 

GOALS (by period)

Man: 0-0-0-0

McGill: 1-2-3-6

 

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)

Man: 3-3-4-10

McGill: 12-14-13-39

 

POWER PLAY:

Man: 0-7

McGill: 2-10

 

GOALTENDERS

Man – Stacey Corfield  (L, 0-1, 39 shots, 33 saves, 60:00)

McGill – Charline Labonte (W, 1-0, 10 shots, 10 saves, 60:00)

 

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Man: Katherine O’Rourke

McGill:  Alessandra Lind-Kenny

 

ATTENDANCE: 721