Sunday bracket play sets up Championship-Monday
With pool-play wrapping up in the U18 women’s division, Sunday was set up for semifinals action. The BC Rams won their pool and drew the Ontario W match-up. On the other side of the equation, the Vancouver Island squad, BC-Stags won their pool and faced off against Ontario C in the second semi of the day.
The opening semifinal of the day featured the Rams vs Ontario W. A back-and-forth start to the game was quickly quelled by a BC Rams scoring frenzy in the second quarter. Ontario W got one goal back, but it wasn’t enough to get back within striking distance. Grace Delmotte scored the insurance marker for the BC Rams and they rolled to a 4-1 win and booked their spot in the Monday final.
SUNDAY RESULTS
Women’s Semis
BC Rams def Ont W 4-1
BC Stags def Ont C 4-0
Women’s Consolation
Quebec def PEI 1-0
Ont E def Alb 1-0
BC Lions def Quebec
On the other side of the bracket, Ontario C tied for the top of their pool but lost out on point differential and drew pool winners, BC Stags. The BC Stags immediately jumped on the board twice in the first quarter. According to Stags head coach Krista Thompson, they have been effective playing with the lead during the tournament which helped their confidence in this game.
“Getting the lead early allows us to settle in and not get anxious,” she said. “ I thought the athletes stuck to the game plan today and let the ball do the work, which led to some really good scoring chances.”
With the win, the Stags will face the Rams in an all-BC final. This game is a repeat to last year’s final. And although many of the players are different, the program history leads itself to a provincial rivalry. Last year, the Rams won and this year the Stags are looking for redemption.
Assisting Thompson behind the Stags’ bench is women’s national-program player, Kat Leahy. Leahy said that many of the players from the two teams are friends which should lead to a good game.
“Yah there is a little rivalry for sure, but they are all good friends off the field, I think its going to be really fun to have them play against each other,” Leahy said. “We’ve seen the Rams play some really good hockey this week so we’re excited to get out there and play our game against them.”
The women’s final is set for noon on Monday. Ontario C and W will face-off at 10am for the bronze medal.
In the men’s division, the triple round robin is coming to a close with Monday featuring the final action. The two top teams, BC and Quebec faced off again on Sunday morning. It was another close, back and forth battle but again BC came out on top 3-0. BC popped a goal in the first and fired in two in the third quarter. The two teams will meet again tomorrow afternoon to close out the event. Alberta had their closest game of the event this afternoon taking on Quebec. Alberta, the underdog played to a 3-0 defeat but held Quebec at bay and created some really promising chances in the process. They close out their tournament in the morning with one last game against BC.
Follow the coverage of championship-Monday tomorrow on the FHC Event Page and social media for updates and results.
