The Rundown - Championship Weekend

Eight teams descended upon Charlottetown, PEI for the 2020 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship as one team looked to write their name into history with three-straight wins this weekend. The brackets had been set earlier in the week, so each team had a chance to prepare for their opening games along with a semifinal game if they advanced from the first game. Who would prevail and stand atop the mountain of the U SPORTS women's hockey world? Let's find out what went down in Charlottetown on this week's edition of The Rundown!

BRACKETS

Just a quick reminder for those that need it, here are the brackets.

THURSDAY - QUARTERFINALS

For the second-straight year, the tournament kicked off with an OUA-Canada West match-up as the second-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues faced off against the seventh-seeded Mount Royal Cougars. There were no surprises for either lineup as both teams fielded their best lineup. Erica Fryer got the start for the Varsity Blues while Kaitlyn Ross was back in the net for the Mount Royal Cougars.

FULL DISCLOSURE: This blog is entirely a Cougars blog for this weekend's recap, so settle in!

The first period saw both teams feel one another out as there were chances, but both Fryer and Ross were solid. For those looking for historic moments for Mount Royal, Anna Purschke officially recorded MRU's first-ever penalty at Nationals with a boarding call at 11:26 that was offset by a slashing penalty to Toronto's Taylor Trussler. Throughout the period, though, secondary chances were hard to find as both teams showed a commitment to defence - strengths which got them to Nationals - by clearing rebounds and blocking shots. Through 20 minutes, we'd remain tied at 0-0 with Toronto holding a slight edge in shots at 7-5.

With the teams seemingly have figured out the other, the second period saw less shots get to the two netminders as both Toronto and Mount Royal did a good job in blocking shots, limiting chances, and keeping pucks to the outside. Toronto had a full power-play that went unsuccessful before Mount Royal received an late, abbreviated power-play, but we'd move to the third period still tied at 0-0 with Toronto up 13-9 in shots.

The Toronto power-play would finally give them the advantage they needed midway through the final frame.

Gabrielle de Serres passed the puck to the top of the umbrella where Cristine Chao's shot was stopped by Ross, but Gabriella de Serres was on the doorstep to chip the puck past the glove of Ross to put the Varsity Blues up 1-0 at 10:25! That lead would be short-lived, however, as Mount Royal stormed back just 1:39 later as Camryn Amundson recorded the first-ever Mount Royal Cougars goal at Nationals at 12:04 off a feed from Kate Scidmore to tie the game at 1-1! Both teams would settle down after the goals were scored as this game went back into lockdown mode for the final eight minutes, and we'd need overtime in the opening game at the 2020 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship!

The ten-minute overtime period kicked off with a chance for the Varsity Blues that Ross turned aside. Mount Royal regrouped, headed back down the ice in the Toronto zone, and this happened.

Tianna Ko hit Daria O'Neill with the pass as she pinched in past her check, and O'Neill spotted Tatum Amy wide open heading towards the back post. One tape-to-tape pass later, and Amy had the first-ever game-winning, overtime goal by a Mount Royal Cougar at the Nationals as the Cougars advanced to the semifinal with a 2-1 overtime victory! Kaitlyn Ross records the first-ever win at Nationals by a Cougars goalie by stopping 18 of 19 shots she faced while Erica Fryer suffered the overtime loss after stopping 15 shots.

Mount Royal will advance to Saturday where they will face the winner of the StFX-Montreal game while Toronto will move to the consolation side of the bracket where they'll face the losing squad between StFX-Montreal.

The high-scoring machine known as the third-seeded StFX X-Women faced off against the sixth-seeded Montreal Carabins in the evening game on Thursday. This game looked like a huge mismatch based on stats, but they play the games for a reason! Jamie Johnson was in the net for the X-Women while the Carabins started Maude Trevisan for this game.

U SPORTS Player of the Year Tyra Meropoulis opened the scoring 10:23 into this game as she beat Trevisan high with a shot to put the X-Women up 1-0! Montreal would respond 1:21 later while on the power-play as Annabel Faubert found the back of the net through a screen in front of Johnson to tie the game at 1-1! Montreal would get a second power-play in the frame that StFX would kill off, and we'd head into the intermission tied 1-1 with the shots tied at 6-6.

With no scoring in the second period, Montreal would use the power-play once more to take their first lead of the night at 6:42 of the third period when Marie-Pier Dubé cleaned up a rebound off a Faubert shot, and les Carabins held the improbable 2-1 lead! As time ticked down on a second potential upset, the X-Women pulled Johnson for the extra attacker and it paid off as Lea MacLeod found Lydia Schurman in the slot, and Schurman buried the puck behind Trevisan with 41 seconds to play, sending this game to overtime tied at 2-2!

In the extra period of hockey, this happened.

Lydia Schurman found Kate Gotaas wide open, and her quick shot fooled Trevisan enough to get behind the netminder to give the X-Women the 3-2 overtime victory! Jamie Johnson picked up the win for StFX with a 27-save performance while Maude Trevisan was on the losing end of the overtime game despite making 20 saves in the game.

With the win, StFx moves onto Saturday where they'll play Mount Royal while Montreal moves to the consolation side of the bracket where they'll meet Toronto on Saturday as well.

CRISIS CONTROL

As the X-Women were in the midst of celebration following their win, U SPORTS leaders were in meetings with Hockey Canada over the concerns of the coronavirus outbreak and how to control further spread of the virus. Shortly thereafter, U SPORTS called a meeting with all of the coaches in Charlottetown and informed them of the decision: the 2020 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship would be cancelled.

I wrote on Friday how U SPORTS was full-steam ahead in the middle of the afternoon before doing a complete 180-degree turn and cancelling the tournament following an announcement by Hockey Canada that it was cancelling all Hockey Canada-sanctioned tournaments which included pulling its officials from all events. Because Hockey Canada was supplying officials to the National Championship, their officials were out. Because Hockey PEI is a Hockey Canada member, they too would not be able to replace the officials. With no officials to work any games, there were zero options to keep the National Championship going.

And that's when we all became Sadness.

Look, I get the reasons for cancelling the tournament in order to control any spread of the coronavirus, but, as I wrote in the linked article above, Hockey Canada's timing couldn't be worse after allowing four teams to play, hundreds of fans to file in and out of the rink, and infinite interactions between players, fans, volunteers, coaches, staff, and officials at the tournament. Further to that, I still have a hard time believing that they'd be fine with the men's tournament happening in Halifax after cancelling the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship in the same city one week earlier.

This is not how the hockey careers of a number of remarkable women should end. The graduating players and players who have used up their eligibility this season will not get another shot at winning a national championship, and that's simply heartbreaking. Again, I get the public safety concern, but I am truly heartbroken for the women who won't get a shot at etching their name into U SPORTS history. It should not end like this.

HONOUR THEM

Because of the decision to cancel this tournament, I feel the fifth-year players on each of these teams deserve special mention after they helped their teams to the pinnacle of the sport before having the carpet pulled out from underneath them. Here are the fifth-year players from each of the teams who traveled to Charlottetown for the 2020 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship.

The Alberta Pandas featured seven fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

Those players are Cayle Dillon, Autumn MacDougall, Alex Poznikoff, Regan Wright, Abby Benning, Danielle Hardy, and Alex Gowie.

The Toronto Varsity Blues featured three fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

They are Larissa Borowiec, Jessica Robichaud, and Cristine Chao.

The StFX X-Women featured just one fifth-year player at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

That player is Lydia Schurman.

The McGill Martlets featured four fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

Those fifth-year players are Zoe Todd, Shana Walker, Nicole Howlett, and Emma Cotter.

The York Lions featured three fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

Those players are Erin Locke, Sarah Power, and Eva Hall.

Les Carabins de Montreal featured three fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

They are Alexandra Labelle, Kim Poirier, and Catherine Dubois.

The Mount Royal Cougars featured three fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

Those players are Daria O'Neill, Kate Hufnagel, and Kennedy Bozek.

The UPEI Panthers featured two fifth-year players at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championship.

They are Gabrielle Gray and Rachel Colle.

If you'll notice, I specifically put their names in gold for a reason you'll see below.

DROWNING IN THE STREAM

I'll say this only once because I am hopeful that it will get better, but if CBC accepts the video streams they put out as being "championship quality," we have a lot to talk about when it comes to future championships they'll cover. I'm grateful they're broadcasting these national tournaments for free because there are a ton of amazing athletes that deserve to be seen on a national platform, but the buffering, the pixelation, and the overall quality of the streams has to improve quickly for this agreement with CBC to be remotely feasible for U SPORTS to continue.

You're better than this, CBC. Get your act together.

THE LAST WORD

With U SPORTS announcing that 2020 will be the first year in U SPORTS Women's Hockey history that they will not award the championship, I'm grabbing a hold of the reins and steering this entire ordeal into a better direction. These teams are the best of the best teams we have to offer at university-level women's hockey, so there's no reason why we shouldn't award them the honour of wearing that crown for the next year.

In saying that, I, a writer with zero authority or power to do anything like this, am awarding an eight-way split of the Golden Path Trophy to be shared by all eight teams in Charlottetown, allowing the 26 women who will never compete for the trophy and glory again a chance to go out golden rather than leaving the feeling like they had their last chances stolen from them.

Don't even bring up any sort of debate over this, either. The 26 women listed above will never get a chance to compete for their schools again, and through no fault of their own will they ever get a chance to hoist the Golden Path Trophy again. They deserve to be honoured for their five years of efforts in helping their teams be part of the best eight teams in the nation, and they deserve to go out on top if that opportunity was taken away from them by something out of their control.

"Yeah, but Teebz," I hear you saying, "both Toronto and Montreal lost!"

Save that rhetoric. Four teams played, four teams didn't. In the end, the net result for all teams is zero since none of the wins matter. Yes, it's important to recognize that both Mount Royal and StFX scored victories at this tournament which is why I led off this article with them, but those wins netted them the same result as all four teams who didn't play and the two teams they defeated. If wins and losses are considered equal by the end result of this tournament, then everyone gets a chance to share in the National Championship victory equally regardless of outcomes. It doesn't make their victories any less significant since both will be footnotes when historians look back on this year's championship, but awarding the championship to all eight teams validates the hard work, the sacrifices, the teamwork, and the efforts they gave all season long to reach this point.

It is said that champions learn to deal with and overcome adversity. Eight teams were prepared to determine which of the teams was the best in Canadian women's university hockey this weekend before they were forced to stop playing by factors outside of their controls. This off-ice adversity is something the world is grappling with at the moment, so let's do the right thing here by awarding these final eight teams the highest honour in the land to be shared equally.

Congratulations to the Alberta Pandas, the Toronto Varsity Blues, the StFX X-Women, the McGill Martlets, the York Lions, les Carabins de Montreal, the Mount Royal Cougars, and the UPEI Panthers in being this writer's co-winners of the 2020 Golden Path Trophy as the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Champions!

With that, we're done for another year at the university level for hockey. It's been an incredible year where teams surprised us, upsets happened, victories were seen, players set records, freshmen showed their moxie, goalies stole games, and one worldwide pandemic derailed the biggest tournament. I don't know if there will ever be another year quite like 2020 when it comes to U SPORTS women's hockey, but I'm already looking forward to next season's action!

To all players and, specifically, those 26 players listed above, hold your heads high. I know my chatter about awarding the trophy doesn't actually cure the disappointment and anger over the decisions made by U SPORTS and Hockey Canada, but I do know that you're some of the most amazing athletes and hockey players I've been grateful to cover over your illustrious careers. I want to thank you for making my weekends more entertaining with your play, for making your communities better with your generous and incredible charitable and grassroots work, and for making your schools proud through all your efforts both on and off the ice and in the classroom. I'm hopeful our paths will cross again in the future.

Enjoy your summers, folks, and thanks for reading all season long!

Until next season, keep your sticks on the ice!