Winter Universiade women’s hockey: Canada makes it back-to-back gold
ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) – Canada successfully defended its Winter Universiade title in women’s hockey on Saturday afternoon defeating Finland 4-1 in the gold-medal final, a Cemal Gursel Arena.
ERZURUM, Turkey (CIS) – Canada successfully defended its
Winter Universiade title in women’s hockey on Saturday
afternoon defeating Finland 4-1 in the gold-medal final, a Cemal
Gursel Arena.
IIHF game summary: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/pdfts/IHW400101/C74
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter
2011 Winter Universiade website: http://www.erzurum2011.gov.tr/english
Canada also won gold in 2009 when the sport made its Universiade
debut in Harbin, China, thanks to a 3-1 win over the host team.
The red-and-white squad comprised exclusively of Canadian
Interuniversity Sport all-stars finished the 2011 tournament with
an unblemished 7-0 record including a 2-1 shootout victory over
Finland (5-1-1) in their preliminary round opener on Jan. 27.
“It’s a great moment for us. We didn’t play of
best game today. We did a lot of good things but we struggled a
little bit in our zone. But in the end, we’re a team that
came together over the two weeks and we accomplished what we came
here to do,” said Team Canada head coach Les Lawton.
“After we took a three-goal lead we felt pretty comfortable.
I didn’t think they could score four on us.”
“Over the past two weeks, we tried to do things that would
help develop the game in other countries and I think we were
successful. Our players did a great job of stepping up and
embracing the other teams. You could see we have the respect of the
other countries and that’s very rewarding,” added the
Concordia University bench boss.
“Finland came out really strong today. It was a tough game
all the way through. We came here with a goal and we knew what we
wanted to do. We’re really excited to come out of this game
on top. It’s an unbelievable feeling right now,” said
team captain Andrea Ironside.
“We came in as defending champs so we had some pressure on
ourselves but we played through it all. I think we did a great job
of stepping up to the challenge,” added the Wilfrid Laurier
rearguard from Collingwood, Ont., one of six returnees from the
2009 championship team. “We are overjoyed with everything,
from the organizing committee to the facilities and the people.
Turkey has been truly phenomenal.”
Four different players scored for Canada including University of
Montreal’s Kim Deschênes of Saint-Quentin, N.B.,
Guelph’s Jessica Zerafa of Mississauga, Ont., as well as
McGill teammates Ann-Sophie Bettez of Sept-Îles, Que., and
Carly Hill of Dorval, Que.
Wilfrid Laurier netminder Liz Knox of Stoufville, Ont., made 20
saves to earn her fourth win in as many starts.
Canada fired 34 shots at Finnish goalie Anna Vanhatalo including a
13-7 advantage in the first period and a 12-4 edge in the
second.
Deschênes, who found the back of the net for a fifth straight
match, opened the scoring with 91 seconds left in the first frame
when she beat a defender, kicked the puck to her stick and beat
Vanhatalo up top. It marked the third time in the competition that
Deschênes scored the game’s first goal.
Zerafa tallied what would be the game-winner 4:01 into the middle
stanza. She took advantage of traffic in front of the net to roof a
rebound over Vanhatalo’s right shoulder for her fourth of the
tourney.
After Bettez made it 3-0 late in the second period with her fifth
goal of the event, Finland came back to within two 2:19 into the
third when Venla Hovi buried a rebound past Knox during a power
play.
Hill, who was also part of the 2009 gold-medal team, put the game
away with a power-play marker with 3:33 left on the clock.
GAME NOTES: In addition to Ironside and Hill, other 2009 returnees
included University of Alberta’s Andrea Boras of Calgary,
York’s Kelsey Webster of Duncan, B.C., Moncton’s
Mariève Provost of Laval, Que., and York’s Courtney
Unruh of Fort St. John, B.C... Wilfrid Laurier forward Candice
Styles of Orangeville, Ont., who picked up an assist in the final,
and Saskatchewan’s Breanne George of Saskatoon both finished
with a team-leading 12 points, good for sixth in the tournament
scoring race... Styles finished third in goals with eight, while
George was tied for fourth with seven... Brock goalie Beth Clause
of Hamilton, who was Knox’s backup in the final, didn’t
allow a goal on 25 shots in 200 minutes of action in the tournament
to finish first in goals against average (0.00), save percentage
(1.000) and shutouts (3)... Know, who allowed three goals in 225
minutes of play, finished second in GAA (0.80) and save%
(.921)...
SCORING
SUMMARY
Canada 4, Finland 1
FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. CAN Kim Deschênes (5) (unassisted), 18:29
PENALTIES:
Andrea Ironside (CAN) hooking, 3:33;
Team (FIN) too many players, 12:45.
SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
2. CAN Jessica Zarafa (4) (Carly Hill), 4:01
3. CAN Ann-Sophie Bettez (5) (Andrea Boras, Andrea Ironside),
15:14
PENALTIES:
None
THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
4. FIN Venla Hovi (9) (Anne Tuomanen), 2:19 PP
5. CAN Carly Hill (2) (Candice Styles, Kelsey Webster), 16:27
PP
PENALTIES:
Ellie Seedhouse (CAN) interference, 1:50;
Susanna Niemela (FIN) elbowing, 7:31;
Anne Helin (FIN) elbowing, 16:23.
GOALS (by period)
CAN: 1-2-1: 4
FIN: 0-0-1: 1
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 13-12-8: 34
FIN: 7-4-10: 21
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 1-3
FIN: 1-2
GOALTENDERS
CAN – Liz Knox (W, 4-0, 21 shots, 20 saves, 1 GA, 60:00)
FIN – Anna Vanhatalo (L, 34 shots, 30 saves, 4 GA, 60:00)
REFEREE: Leah O’Brian (USA)
LINESMEN: Magdalena Cerhitova (SVK), Michaela Kudelova (SVK)
ATTENDANCE: 2111
START: 13:00
END: 14:54
LENGTH: 1:54
TEAM CANADA
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (local time)
Thursday, Jan. 27: Canada 2, Finland 1 (1-0 in shootout)
Friday, Jan. 28: Canada 3, Slovakia 0
Sunday, Jan. 30: Canada 14, Great Britain 0
Monday, Jan. 31: Canada 9, USA 0
Wednesday, Feb. 2: Canada 11, Turkey 0
Friday, Feb. 4 (semifinal #1): Finland 5, Slovakia 1
Friday, Feb. 4 (semifinal #2): Canada 8, USA 1
Saturday, Feb. 5 (bronze): Slovakia 3, USA 1
Saturday, Feb. 5 (final): Canada 4, Finland 1
PRELIMINARY ROUND
STANDINGS (FINAL)
GP
W
OTW OTL
L
GF
GA PTS
1. Canada
5
4
1
0
0
39
1
14
2. Finland
5
4
0
1
0
49
3 13
3. Slovakia
5
3
0
0
2
33
11 9
4.
USA
5
2
0
0
3
25
18 6
5. Great
Britain 5
1
0
0
4
11
36 3
6.
Turkey
5
0
0
0
5
0
88 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)
-CIS-