The Rundown - U SPORTS Finals

The field at this year's National Women's Hockey Championship had been reduced to six teams with three games closing out the 2022-23 season today. We'd see a consolation final, a bronze medal game, and the gold medal game when it came to action on the ice, and all three games looked to be fantastic in terms of the two teams scheduled to meet. The defending champions would have a shot a defending their title as they were in the gold medal final, and we saw an eighth-seed advance to the gold medal game for the first time in the history of this tournament. If you wanted storylines, drama, intrigue, and incredible hockey action, Montreal was the place to be on Sunday, so let's check out how this season ended on The Rundown!

Just as a reminder, here are today's games via the brackets.

11am will see the fifth-place game played as Toronto and StFX meet in that game. The bronze-medal game goes at 3pm ET as the UBC Thunderbirds and Montreal Carabins tangle in that contest. The gold medal game will be played at 7pm ET betweeen the defending champion Concordia Stingers and the Mount Royal Cougars. Both the RSEQ and Canada West have a shot at capturing two medals today, so let's get into the action!

The StFX X-Women met the Toronto Varsity Blues in the fifth-place game on Sunday morning. StFX defeated Nipissing on Saturday after falling to UBC on Friday. Toronto advanced after downing UNB on Saturday after they had fallen to Mount Royal on Thursday. One of these two teams will leave Montreal with two wins and a fifth-place finish after this final game. Jamie Johnson was in the crease for StFX while Erica Fryer was between the pipes once again for Toronto.

This game got a quick start after StFX was called for a penalty just a couple minutes in, giving Toronto an early advantage. Kaitlyn McKnight fired a puck into the slot area that didn't get to the net, but Lauren Macdonnell cleaned up the front of the net by chipping the puck past Johnson at 2:56, and Toronto was on the board with a 1-0 score! StFX shook that early goal off and looked to even the game on two power-plays, but the Varsity Blues killed those off. StFX would be called for a penalty late in the period, and Toronto capitalized again when Taylor Trussler found Emma Potter cross-ice for a quick shot that Johnson stopped, but Sophie Grawbarger tapped in the rebound with 55 seconds to play to make it 2-0 for Toronto. That two-goal lead held into the break with Toronto up 7-6 in shots.

Thanks to a late penalty in the first period, Toronto started with the power-play in the second period which saw them increase their lead again. Sophie Grawbarger centered to Emma Potter who went shelf on Johnson just 57 seconds into the frame, and the Varsity Blues were up 3-0! Toronto slowly began to exert their influence on this period as they found more ways to get pucks to the net, but Johnson did her part in keeping her team as close as possible. Toronto missed out on a power-play opportunity, but they kept the pressure on as Isabella Greco centered to Kaitlyn McKnight who chipped the puck up and over Johnson to make it 4-0 at 15:29! StFX missed out on a power-play chance before the end of the period, and that 4-0 lead for Toronto carried into the intermission with Toronto leading 17-11 in shots.

The third period saw the Varsity Blues do as much as they could to keep their defensive zone clear of StFX chances as they dialed back their offence. The X-Women pressed to try to break the goose egg on their side of the scoreboard, but the Varsity Blues showed that they could lock down their zone. Two power-plays were killed, and a StFX penalty saw Toronto control possession to help them run out the clock as the Varsity Blues finished in fifth-place thanks to their 4-0 win over the StFX X-Women. Erica Fryer stopped 16 shots for the tournament's first shutout as she won her second game in the tournament while Jamie Johnson stopped 14 shots in her Sunday morning effort.

Toronto finished the tournament in fifth-place, and StFX will return to Antigonish, Nova Scotia as the sixth-best team in the nation!

Highlights from this game are below!

The fifth-seeded Montreal Carabins brought the home crowd with them to the bronze medal game on Sunday afternoon as they met the UBC Thunderbirds. Montreal arrived in the bronze medal game after falling to Mount Royal on Saturday while UBC was playing in the game after Concordia defeated them in the semifinal. One team will wake up Monday with hardware while the other will look forward to next season as the fourth-best team. Aube Racine was in the Montreal net once again while Kate Stuart, in her final university game, got the start for the UBC Thunderbirds.

Quick starts were a key part of UBC's success all season, and they turned that trick today as Montreal was whistled for an early penalty. On the power-play, Annalise Wong's long shot from the point found the back of the net thanks, in part, to the great screen set by Grace Elliott in front of Racine, and the Thunderbirds were up 1-0 just 2:44 into the game! Montreal wasn't going to be deterred by that early setback as they pushed back against the T-Birds, but the Carabins couldn't crack the UBC defence. A late UBC penalty didn't help Montreal, and we'd hit the break with UBC leading 1-0 and holding a 6-5 edge in shots.

The defensive game continued into the second period where shots that reached the goaltenders were few. An early UBC penalty was killed off, and the T-Birds found some momentum with that effort as Kennesha Miswaggon's shot from the half-boards was stopped by a body in front, but Mackenzie Kordic got a whack at the loose puck and she put it by Racine at 7:45 to give UBC the 2-0 lead! The Thunderbirds were forced to kill off another penalty before the end of the period, and that allowed them to take the two-goal cushion into the second intermission despite Montreal leading 11-9 in shots.

For everything that Montreal was doing in the previous 40 minutes, they doubled their efforts once more which paid off nicely. First, Mylène Lefebvre went between her legs with a centering pass to Justine Pelletier, and Pelletier buried her shot from the slot at 4:28 to cut the UBC lead to 2-1. 2:55 after that goal, Montreal was buzzing around the UBC net again when Amelie Poiré-Lehoux held the puck long enough to get Stuart to overplay her position, and Poiré-Lehoux centered to Jessika Boulanger who crashed the crease and tapped home the puck home to make it 2-2 at the 7:23 mark!

UBC would regroup and settle down, though, as Montreal continued to press for the winner. We'd see that winner come at 16:46 when Kennesha Miswaggon's long point shot was redirected by Ireland Perrott in front which Racine stopped, but Perrott chipped her own rebound past the Montreal netminder on her second attempt to put UBC up 3-2! Montreal went into desperation mode with the goalie pulled and had some chances, but, as stated, that Perrott goals was the winner as UBC earned the bronze medal with a 3-2 win over Montreal! Kate Stuart stopped 20 shots in the win while Aube Racine was good on ten shots in just missing out on the medals.

UBC finished as the U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship bronze medalist for the second time in their history while Montreal will finish as the fourth-best team in the nation after today's result.

Highlights of this game are below!

For the first time in their short-but-storied history, the Mount Royal Cougars would play for the U SPORTS gold medal. They had won a number of ACAC gold medals in their history, but this was their first shot at capturing Canadian university hockey's highest honour. The Concordia Stingers had been in their position before as they had three gold medals to their name, and were the first repeat champions back in 1998 and 1999. Of course, they were looking to complete that feat twice as they entered the game as the defending gold medalists after their win in PEI one year earlier.

Would we see one of the newest programs in U SPORTS women's hockey upset the defending champs or would the Stingers be golden for the second year in a row? The Mount Royal Cougars had Kaitlyn Ross in their net to help answer that question while the Concordia Stingers leaned on Alice Philbert for the second-straight year for gold medal-level goaltending.

The first period saw the champs establish their game, but the upstart Cougars would find their skating legs as well. There were a handful of chances seen at both ends of the ice, and Mount Royal survived a penalty call against the tournament's leading power-play. If there was any fear of making a mistake by either team in the opening period, it didn't show whatsoever, but we'd hit the break with neither side lighting a lamp as the 0-0 score was intact despite Concordia holding a 10-6 edge in shots.

It wouldn't take long to find a goal in the second period as the champs struck early. A turnover led to a Chloé Gendreau breakaway, and she went forehand-backhand and through the wickets of Ross to put the Stingers up 1-0 just 1:31 into the frame! The game settled back into its first-period look as both teams looked to capitalize where they could, and two-straight Concordia penalties were killed off as Mount Royal missed on some good opportunities.

However, the Cougars would get one back before the end of the period as Tori Williams' blast from the point got past a screened Philbert at 16:45, and we were squared up at 1-1! Concordia would escape another penalty unfazed, and we'd go into the second intermission tied at 1-1 with Concordia holding a 17-15 shot margin.

If you were expecting a low-event third period, you were sadly mistaken. Breanne Trotter got herself open long enough to whack home an Athena Hauck pass from just outside the crease to the left of Philbert, and Mount Royal went up 2-1 at 2:02. A very questionable penalty shot was awarded to Rosalie Bégin-Cyr minutes later, and she made good on her shot by dragging the puck across the crease from right to left before going high on a moving Ross to tie the game at 2-2 at the 4:27 mark. A penalty to Emma Bergesen at the midpoint of the period allowed the Stingers' power-play to go to work as Chloé Gendreau took a sharp angle shot that Ross stopped, but Megan Burean-Gagnon buried the rebound from in front at 11:55 to put the Stingers up 3-2.

As time ticked down, it almost felt inevitable that the Stingers, with their championship experience, would simply let time run out on this game. Mount Royal pushed for chances, but it seemed the Stingers had their number even with Ross on the bench for the extra attacker. With the fans going bananas in the crowd and the clock hitting single digits in time, it looked like the Concordia Stingers were about to celebrate their second-consecutive gold medal victory. Note all the foreshadowing I'm doing.

With time winding down, Athena Hauck pushed the puck past one Stinger to get off the half-boards to where Breanne Trotter one-timed the puck off Hauck's possesion at the net, and the high shot got past a screened Philbert high on the blocker side and rested inside the net with 1.8 seconds to play in the game! The Mount Royal Cougars had tied the game at 3-3 and we would need overtime to determine a gold medalist at the 2023 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship!

After settling my own nerves, the teams took to the ice for the 5-on-5, sudden-death overtime period. Concordia had a few chances through the opening minutes only to be turned away by Kaitlyn Ross. It can't be stated enough that Ross allowed her team to skate with renewed confidence all tournament, and that shone through when Breanne Trotter came down the right side, took a shot that glanced off the defender in front of her and went to Alice Philbert's right where Emma Bergesen kept her stick on the ice despite being checked, and she swept the puck past Philbert before she could recover! The Mount Royal Cougars had scored in overtime to win the game 4-3 over the Concordia Stingers!

With the celebration on, it needs to be said in one full statement:
THE MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS ARE THE 2023 U SPORTS NATIONAL WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONS!
Kaitlyn Ross was sensational in making 29 saves to backstop the Cougars to the gold medal while Alice Philbert did everything she could to stop 20 shots in helping Concordia earn a silver medal.

Not much else needs to be said about how this game was played, but the highlights of this gold medal game are below.

Final Standings

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I'm not beyond excited about Mount Royal's win. I've been privy to watch them grow and evolve over their short history in Canada West, and to see them stand atop the mountain just ten years after they joined Canada West is certainly an incredible feat. However, all eight teams on this list could have gold medalists based on play this weekend, and we were witness to some incredible hockey. Congratulations to all eight teams for outstanding seasons!

Growth Of A Champion

Mount Royal is a team that went 8-17-3 in their inaugural Canada West season, finishing in eighth-place with 50 goals-for and 89 goals-against. Compare that to ten years later when the Cougars went 19-6-3, finished third in Canada West, and scored 76 goals-for and only surrendered 46 goals-against. It's taken ten long years to get to this point, but the Cougars have always been the "David" to every other team's "Goliath" when it came to Canada West play. On a national scale, I'm not sure players like Chrissy Hodgson, Tanika Dawson, or Kendall Kilgour even thought about playing the likes of Toronto, Montreal, or Concordia.

Seeing them make their first playoff series in 2017 against Manitoba was a huge step forward for the program. They lost both games in that quarterfinal series, but they showed incredible growth. In 2018, they lost both games in the quarterfinal to UBC, but UBC needed overtime in both games to send the Cougars home. In 2019, they finished in fifth-place for the first time ever, and won their first-ever playoff game on February 16 by a 3-0 score over Saskatchewan before falling in three games. And in 2020, they finished in fourth-place, won their first playoff series against the Regina Cougars, and upset the Calgary Dinos to earn their first berth in the Canada West Final. Oh, and they went to Nationals for the first team as the seventh-seeded team, and upset the second-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues before the tournament was called for pandemic reasons.

Forget upward trajectory - they literally are the graph above. With every passing year, the Cougars improved by leaps and bounds until they finally reached this outcome today. Watching this growth and evolution fills me with pride because a handful of us recognized Mount Royal's immense potential for greatness in 2017 when they made their first playoff appearance. We knew it was only the first step in the Cougars becoming a tour de force in Canada West, and they took that final step in becoming the best team in Canada today.

It has truly been an honour to watch the Cougars develop their program to what it has become today, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here! There will be a target on Mount Royal's backs next season - another first for a program playing their first U SPORTS game just ten years ago! - as they'll be the defending champions.

Seven Other Teams

Take nothing away from the Concordia Stingers who were a mere 1.8 seconds from a back-to-back championship celebration. The Stingers showed that they too have the hearts of champions by dispatching the Nipissing Lakers before downing the UBC Thunderbirds to advance to the final. They may look back on today's game and wonder how they could have let victory slip through their fingers, but they should be proud of how well they played considering how difficult it is to repeat as champions. The Concordia Stingers have should have nothing to regret.

The UBC Thunderbirds deserve some kudos as well as the 2023 U SPORTS bronze medalists. They battled through arguably the most difficult conference in U SPORTS women's hockey to emerge victorious as the Canada West champions before downing the StFX X-Women in their quarterfinal game. They gave the defending champions a good run in their semifinal game, but the Stingers overcame some adversity to defeat the Thunderbirds. While it sucks to lose that game, the T-Birds rebounded well by bouncing back after losing the lead against Montreal only to claim their hardware with which they'll return to Vancouver. Well done, UBC, in earning those bronze medals!

To Montreal, Toronto, StFX, UNB, and Nipissing, you were all worthy competitors this weekend, and you rightfully belong among the top-eight teams in Canada. This might have been the most wide-open tournament we've seen in some time at a National Championship, and a bounce or two that went differently could have altered the results entirely. Make no mistake that you're all worthy of praise, though. This weekend's games were some of the most entertaining I've seen all year long! Thank you for your dedication, your skills, and your efforts in capping this season off with an exclamation point!

Delayed Postings

Some of you may be asking why it took me so long to produce the last three days of The Rundown articles, and I can tell you that finding clips of goals and turning them into highlight reels with graphics to begin and end each highlight reel is taxing work when it comes to the amount of time needed. That doesn't include doing the recaps either, so let's just say that I've put a lot of work in behind the scenes this weekend.

Don't view this as a complaint - I want highlight reels for all games produced if possible. It seems that U SPORTS and CBC didn't follow through on that request, though, so I took it upon myself to make those highlight reels for all eleven games. If the athletic departments could do it for their schools or the conferences do it for their schools, that would have helped immensely. I know I'm screaming into a void right now, but being a one-man operation limits the speed at which I can produce articles. I guess what I'm saying is help a brother out once in a while!

The Last Word

Every year, I say that I'm not sure how long I'll keep doing this only to find myself knee-deep in Canada West women's hockey once again. What I do know is that the U SPORTS National Championship in 2024 moves to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and I assure you that I will not be missing that tournament after having experienced tournaments in London, Ontario and Charlottetown, PEI. Because of this fact, let's make it official: The Rundown will be back next year for more Canada West women's hockey action!

In order to get everyone ready for Saskatoon's turn at hosting this event, here is the U SPORTS video to promote the 2024 U SPORTS National Women's Hockey Championship hosted by Saskatchewan!
Will the Mount Royal Cougars be there to defend their title? Will we see another new team put their name on the Golden Path Trophy for the first time? Who will be the seven teams to join the Saskatchewan Huskies at the tournament? All those questions will be answered next season, meaning that there's only one last thing to say this season:

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MOUNT ROYAL COUGARS, THE 2023 U SPORTS NATIONAL WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONS!

Until next season, enjoy your summers! See you in October!