The Rundown - U SPORTS Final

Admittedly, this article is more than just the final game. As it stands, six teams would compete today. Three would finish the day with wins. Three would go home with medals. Two would compete for the gold medal while just one would claim those golden moments. The 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship wrapped up in Charlottetown, PEI today and it was time to hand out the hardware as the 2021-22 U SPORTS women's hockey season came to a close. The eight teams who competed over the last four days had done their schools and communities proud, but let's find out who went home as the best of them all on The Rundown!

The eighth-seeded hosts of the tournament, the UPEI Panthers, met the Canada West champions and third-seeded UBC Thunderbirds in the fifth-place game at the 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship. UPEI, having defeated Brock one day earlier for their first-ever win at a Nationals tournament, looked to keep those winning ways going while UBC, who downed McGill, looked to finish up strong. Camille Scherger was in the crease for the Panthers while Elise Hugens was defending the UBC net once more.

UBC started the game just like they did in so many Canada West games this season: scoring early. Hannah Koroll's long wrister from the point through traffic wasn't seen by Scherger until it was in the net behind her as UBC jumped out to the 1-0 just 1:09 into the game. From that point in the game forward, this game was disrupted by penalties as the teams combined for 20 minor penalties - 10 apiece - throughout this game. That info will be important because Ireland Perrott redirected a Mackenzie Kordic shot from the side of the net past Scherger while on a power-play, and the UBC Thunderbirds had a 2-0 lead at the 16:33 mark. That score would hold into the break despite the Panthers outshooting UBC 8-7 in the period.

In an interesting twist, the UPEI Panthers replaced Scherger with Shaylin McFarlane to start the middle stanza, and the second-year netminder settled in with a couple of early stops. The parade to the penalty box slowed in this period, and that allowed UBC to set the pace. Perrott would score her second goal off an offensive zone face-off when she stepped into the high slot and ripped a goal high on the stick side on McFarlane at 2:38 to make it 3-0. Kenzie Robinson would score off a Hannah Koroll rebound in front of the net while on the power-play at 8:31, and the Thunderbirds held a 4-0 lead. Beyond that, though, McFarlane really started to look comfortable as she found her spots and made saves. No other goals would be scored in this period, and UBC went to the third period with that four-goal cushion and leading 19-12 in shots.

Despite pressing for another goal or two, the UBC shooters were denied by MacFarlane in a period where eleven minor penalties were called. With whistles being blown regularly, there wasn't a lot of free-wheeling play in this final frame. As a result, the final horn sounded on a 4-0 UBC Thunderbirds win over the UPEI Panthers! Elise Hugens earned her second win and second shutout at this tournament with a 21-save game while Camille Scherger took the loss in her 20 minutes of play where she stopped five of seven shots she faced. For the record, Shaylin McFarlane made 20 stops on 22 attempts in her 40 minutes of play.

With the victory, UBC claims fifth-place in the tournament UPEI will finish in sixth-place. McGill finishes in seventh-place thanks to UBC's win today, and Brock will be the eighth-place team after the UPEI loss today. The bottom-four placements are now settled!

Highlights of this game are below!

The fifth-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies, finalists in Canada West, met the second-seeded UNB Reds, AUS champions, in the bronze medal game at the 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship today! Saskatchewan was looking for its second tournament medal ever while UNB was looking for its first. Sasktachewan fell to Concordia one day earlier while UNB fell to Nipissing, and both teams were shut out in those games. Someone had to find some scoring today to earn the bronze medal! Camryn Drever was back in the net for the Huskies while Kendra Woodland was in her familiar spot for the Reds!

Saskatchewan burst out of the gate in this game as they controlled the pace for the majority of the first period. They had chances, but none would dent twine until Kendra Zuchotzki teed up a one-timer from just above the left face-off circle at 7:51, and the Huskies were up 1-0! UNB, despite getting into the Saskatchewan zone, simply couldn't get pucks to the net thanks to some tenacious defending from the Huskies. Saskatchewan would carry the 1-0 lead into the break as they held an 11-3 advantage in shots!

The second period seemed to settle both teams down as they got back to business in generating and creating chances in the offensive zones while they played solid defence in their own zones. Both teams seemed to be very even as the period progressed, but Saskatchewan would double their lead when Jasper Desmarais skated down the right side and ripped a wrister high from the face-off dot that caught Woodland going down, and the Huskies led 2-0 at 14:08! Drever would continue to keep the door shut in her zone as Saskatchewan took the two-goal lead to the third period while leading 16-10 in shots.

The third period saw the Huskies do what they do best, and that's shut down the other team with defence. UNB tried to press all period, but the Saskatchewan defence and Camryn Drever were able to repel all seven officially-recorded shots on net as the Saksatchewan Huskies defeated the UNB Reds by that 2-0 score! Camryn Drever earned her second win and second shutout of this tournament in stopping all 17 shots sent her way while Kendra Woodland suffered the loss after making 23 stops.

With the victory, the Saskatchewan Huskies are your 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship bronze medalists while UNB finishes in fourth-place to close out their respective tournaments!

Highlights of this game are below!

The seventh-seeded OUA finalists in the Nipissing Lakers met the top-seeded RSEQ champions in the Concordia Stingers for all the marbles on Sunday. Nipissing had never been to a U SPORTS National Hockey Championship, let alone play in the big dance, whereas Concordia last hoisted the Golden path Trophy in 1999. Neither goaltender for these teams had surrendered a goal in this tournament to this point, so something was going to have to give if the championship banner was to be awarded tonight at the 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship! Chloe Marshall stood in front of the Nipissing cage while Alice Philbert guarded the Concordia net!

I'm not sure what head coach Darren Turcotte said to the Lakers before the came out, but seeing them press the Stingers early in this game was not something I expected right off the bat. However, the Stingers did weather the storm as they found their legs quickly. Nipissing drew a couple of penalties that slowed the attack from the Stingers down, but the Lakers were unable to capitalize against a lethal Concordia team when they were down. After one period of play, the score remained 0-0 with Nipissing up 9-7 in shots.

The back-and-forth battle started to lean in favour of Concordia after Nipissing was called for four infractions in the second period. Giving the Stingers that many opportunities on the power-play was tempting fate, and Concordia would finally capitalize on their fourth opportunity when Rosalie Bégin-Cyr's initial shot was stopped, but Maria Manarolis found room past Marshall's pad on a second whack at the rebound to give COncordia the 1-0 lead at 18:21. Nipissing was still finding ways to get shots through all period, but Alice Philbert was having none of it as she denied the Lakers time and time again. At the end of the second frame, Concordia led 1-0 and had a 23-19 edge in shots!

The third period started with a bang as it seemed like Concordia found a second wind following their initial goal at the end of the second period. Stéphanie Lalancette beat Marshall high on the stick side after intercepting a clearing pass to make it 2-0 just 2:51 into the frame. Concordia began to sit back a little, but still jumped at opportunities when they presented themselves. Audrey Belzile had one of those opportunities when she was sent in on a breakaway, and she made no mistake on the deke going forehand-backhand around Marshall's pad for a 3-0 lead at 13:05. Needing a goal, Nipissing pulled Marshall for the extra attacker, but Lalancette would ice this game with an empty-net goal with 2:13 to play as the Concordia Stingers defeated the Nipissing Lakers by a 4-0 score! Alice Philbert stopped all 25 shots she faced for her third win and third shutout in this tournament while Chloe Marshall suffered her first loss on a night where she made 33 stops.

The Nipissing Lakers, after a brilliant tournament, are your 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship silver medalists!

And to the victors go the spoils as the Concordia Stingers are your 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship gold medalists, Golden Path Trophy winners, and the top team in Canadian university hockey for at least one year!

Highlights of this final game from UPEI are below!

Here's the final look at the 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship after the dust settled this weekend in PEI.

What may make this victory for the Stingers a little sweeter is that the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship will take place in Montreal next season as the RSEQ is the host conference. The Université de Montréal, home to les Carabins, will host seven other teams next season as they get set for their first-ever hosting duties for women's hockey! Might we see Concordia back to defend their title? There's a possibility, but there are five other RSEQ teams who will have something to say about that!

The Best Of The Best

The tournament all-star selections and MVP were made and announced after the game. It should come as no surprise that the Stingers and Lakers occupied most of the spots in these selections. Tournament all-stars included:

• Goaltender: Alice Philbert (Concordia)
• Defender: Madison Solie (Nipissing)
• Defender: Isabella Pozzi (Saskatchewan)
• Forward: Audrey Belzile (Concordia)
• Forward: Stéphanie Lalancette (Concordia)
• Forward: Maria Dominico (Nipissing)

Shockingly, Rosalie Bégin-Cyr's name wasn't called, and I may file a protest on her behalf because she could easily be in that list as well. I don't vote, though, so my opinion counts for nothing except here where it still amounts to a hair above nothing. In the end, I can't really argue with any of these selections.

The championship MVP award went to Concordia's Stéphanie Lalancette as the fifth-year Leisure Sciences student from St. Félicien, Quebec had a solid game in the championship final. She scored the second goal of the game early in the third period that really put the pressure on Nipissing, and she finished the game off with the empty-net marker. In total, she had three goals and two assists in the tournament, but Lalancette came to play today in helping the Concordia Stingers win a National Championship, their first since 1999. That's not a bad way to finish off your university hockey career, I'd say!

All About The Medium

After a rather dismal showing a few years ago where video was choppy and there were long periods of buffering, kudos needs to be given to CBC Sports for their efforts this year. The video was fluid, the games looked great, and the calls by everyone who worked behind the microphones - including Kenzie Lalonde! - was excellent. CBC's commitment to exceptional coverage of amateur sports wasn't lost this weekend with them streaming the entire tournament, and they deserve a mention for allowing Canada to watch the amazing hockey played by the women who made up our nation's best university teams.

Phil-icitations!

I need to mention Alice Philbert because she went on a tear. Since February 1, Alice has played ten games. In those ten games, she's pitched a shutout seven times! In those other three games, she's allowed just one goal. If you're doing the math at home, that's a 0.30 GAA against some of the best teams this nation has to offer. That's incredible when you consider the pressure of playoffs and nationals.

Further to that, she faced 200 shots in that time and stopped 197 of them. That's a save percentage of 0.985 over those ten games which included UPEI, McGill (twice), Saskatchewan, and Nipissing in terms of teams that appeared at the National Championship. That's a ridiculous statistic over a ten-game period.

If defence wins championships, having a goaltender go on a tear like Alice Philbert did for the last two months will certainly reinforce that saying. She was simply magnifique down the stretch for the Stingers, and the fourth-year Therapeutic Recreation student could be back for her fifth and final year of eligibility next season!

Now Serving: Doughnuts

If you were keeping track of the statistics in PEI, there was a very odd occurance that was happening as the eleven games were being played. With the exception of the 5-4 overtime win by the UNB Reds over the McGill Marlets in the opening game on Thursday afternoon, every other game in the tournament saw a shutout recorded. I don't ever recall this happening in any other tournament where ten-straight national championship games saw a shutout recorded.

I know I mention it a lot on this blog, but scoring first means a lot. In the case of the 2022 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship, teams that scored first had a .909 winning percentage. I cannot stress this enough: score first in every game for the best chance to win, folks!

I Want More!

As much as I'd love to see more university women's hockey played this year, the season is over. However, there's another massive tournament happening next weekend in Halifax at Acadia University as the eight best men's programs arrive to compete for immortality themselves. The 2022 U SPORTS National Men's Hockey Championship begins on Thursday, and the bracket is set!

All of the action can be found over on the CBC Sports website once more, so make sure you tune in to see who comes away victorious next weekend as well! HBIC will have updates on that tournament as it progresses, so keep an eye on this space as well!

The Last Word

To all the athletes, coaches, and staff of the eight teams who played in PEI, thank you for some amazing hockey action all weekend long. As we transition into spring from hockey season, there will be recruiting and announcements and news like that, but there's nothing like watching the best teams compete for immortality. Thank you for your great seasons, your amazing efforts, everything you do off the ice, and your hard work in the classrooms. Canada's future is bright across the board with these efforts, and you deserve a healthy dose of kudos for everything you do.

To the other 27 programs who missed out on that chance at immortality, you're not forgotten either. Some of the best hockey played this season happening within your own conferences where rivalries and competition was at its highest. I appreciate everything your programs did as well as you pushed the bar higher for the eight teams who ultimately landed in PEI. Keep at it because you're making hockey better for everyone!

To the parents, alumni, and fans of all teams, you were heard all season long and certainly deserve some recognition for cheering on these and your local programs all year. I'd be naive to think that U SPORTS hockey would be as good without everything you've done to get these players to where they are, and your support of the programs now is not going to be overlooked here. Without fans, the games mean nothing so thank you for your years of sacrifice.

Take a breath, folks. We have a summer to relax before the ice is installed again at your local university rinks. Thanks for following along here on HBIC and The Rundown, and these feature pieces will return in October when the university hockey season kicks into high gear once more!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!