EDMONTON (CIS) – The McGill University Martlets will be looking to repeat as CIS women's hockey champions this weekend in Edmonton but the road to a sixth consecutive appearance in the gold medal game and a fourth national title in five years won't be an easy one. The first obstacle: none other than someone who is arguably the best player in the world, Canadian Olympic hero Hayley Wickenheiser. McGill has an Olympic hero of its own however in Charline Labonté, one of the top goalies on the planet.

Championship website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wice/index

The 2012 national championship kicks off Thursday at Clare Drake Arena on the University of Alberta campus. The top team from each of the two pools at the end of the preliminary round will meet in Sunday's gold medal final at 6 p.m. Mountain. SSN Canada will have live webcasts of all nine games from the tournament at ssncanada.ca.

The seeding for the competition was announced earlier this week with the OUA champion Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks earning No. 1 status for the second time in program history. Following in order is defending title-holder McGill (RSEQ champs), the No. 3 Calgary Dinos (Canada West champs), No. 4 UPEI Panthers (AUS champs), No. 5 Alberta Pandas (Canada West finalists & Hosts) and No. 6 Montreal Carabins (RSEQ finalists).

Laurier will compete in Pool A with UPEI and Montreal, while McGill battles it out with Calgary and Alberta in Pool B.

The initial puck drop is set for Thursday at 3:30 p.m. MST when Laurier takes on Montreal. The Pool B opener between McGill and Calgary follows at 7 p.m.

The Golden Hawks, who captured their lone CIS title back in 2005, look like solid favourites in Pool A as they get set for their ninth straight appearance at the national tourney. The OUA powerhouse posted a CIS-best 25-0-1 record in the regular season and travels to Edmonton sporting a spectacular 34-1-2 overall mark against CIS competition.

In a stacked Pool B that could easily be considered the “Pool of Death,” the Dinos will have to get through both the defending champion and their archrivals, the most decorated program in CIS history, to reach the final.

Thursday night's Pool B opener should be a dandy.

Labonté once again led the country this season with a .944 save percentage and eight shutouts in 18 games, upping her CIS record total to 45 whitewashes in 85 career starts. She might face her biggest challenge of the campaign against the Dinos and all-world forward Hayley Wickenheiser, her long-time Olympic teammate.

Wickenheiser, the three-time Olympic gold medallist and six-time world champion, is of course the centerpiece of Calgary's rapid rise as a national power. The Dinos returned to CIS in 2009-10 after competing for seven seasons in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference. They claimed their first-ever Canada West banner two weeks ago with a two-game sweep of Alberta, after going 20-4 in conference play.

After being named CIS MVP in her university debut a year ago, Wickenheiser dominated once again with 17 goals and 32 points in only 16 league matches.

“I think Wick had a better season in CIS this year than last,” says Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette, who played alongside her current pupil at three Olympic Games, including triumphs in 2002 and 2006. “She's a more complete player now, not thinking just about offence but being there for the team and making sure the team was ready to compete in big games. She was such a leader for the players in our dressing room.

“It's huge for the program,” adds Goyette about winning the Canada West title. “When you think about where we've come from, you really have to give credit to the players. They showed this year and through the playoffs that they were hungry. Going to Nationals is great, and we have to be proud of what we accomplished winning Canada West, the first time it's ever happened at the University of Calgary, and it's something we have to celebrate. But as a coach, I want more all the time and I know we still have more to give, and we know we'll need to play our best hockey this weekend to have success against the best teams in the country.”

Not to be outdone by McGill (Daoust), the Dinos have an impact recruit of their own in forward Iya Gavrilova, a member of the Russian national team since 2003 who represented her country at the last two Olympic tournaments. She was named a first-team Canada West all-star in her U of C debut thanks to 27 points in 21 contests.

While McGill showed signs of being human this season, losing a game apiece to conference rivals Montreal, Carleton (4-3 OTS) and Ottawa (2-0 in their playoff opener), the Martlets also showed they could be as dominant as ever, avenging those three losses with 10-1, 10-0 and 8-0 victories, respectively, in the next rematch against each of those teams.

“I don't think that it has been our most consistent team but it's probably the most skilled team that I've had over my years,” says 12-year bench boss Peter Smith, who was an assistant coach with the 2010 Olympic gold medal team. “The tempo and pace that we play at is pretty good and the beauty is that if you compare our best games this year, to our top games four or five years ago, it's quite a step up in terms of the tempo, pace and skill level of the players that we have in our lineup.”

McGill's all-star cast includes, to name only a few: goalie Charline Labonté, a two-time Olympic gold medallist; rearguards Cathy Chartrand and Gillian Ferrari, both former national team members; and forwards Ann-Sophie Bettez, a four-time all-Canadian, and Mélodie Daoust, a member of the Canadian under-22 squad who was named rookie of the year in Quebec after winning the league's scoring crown with a whopping 43 points in only 18 games.

Unfortunately for the defending champs, they will be missing the services of Katia Clément-Heydra this week. The sniper, who centred the top line and finished third in the RSEQ scoring race with an 18-14-32 record in 20 games, suffered a season ending injury in Game 3 of the Quebec semifinals and missed the league final – a two-game sweep against Montreal.

“We do have a young team with 13 players in their first or second year but our expectations for the Nationals is to go there and play our three best games this season,” says Smith. “The beauty of what we have and how we develop this team is that we really focus on peaking at the right time. We had a little blip in our first game of the playoffs but in our last four games we've looked real good and strong. We are well rested, sharp and have been able to stick with our game plan – one that we kind of deviated away from a couple of times over the course of the season.”

No. 3 Calgary Dinos
Head Coach: Danielle Goyette (5th season)
Regular season record: 20-4-0
Regular season standing: 1st Canada West
Playoff record: 4-0
Playoff finish: Canada West champions
Overall record vs. CIS teams: 30-4
Overall record vs. teams at CIS championship: 5-1 (5-1 vs. Alberta)
Top 10 final ranking (Feb. 21): No. 3
Top 10 best ranking: No. 3 (last 11 polls)
Top 10 number of weeks ranked (15 polls): 15
Conference award winners: None
Conference 1st team all-stars: Stephanie Ramsay (D), Hayley Wickenheiser (F), Iya Gavrilova (F)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Melissa Zubick (D)
Conference all-rookie team: No all-rookie team in Canada West
Season leader (points): Hayley Wickenheiser (16 GP: 17-15-32)
Season leader (goals): Hayley Wickenheiser, 17 (16 GP)
Season leader (assists): Stephanie Ramsay, 16 (22 GP)
Season leader (goaltending): Amanda Tapp (19 GP, 15-4, 3 SHO, 1.65 GAA, .918 SV%)
CIS championship appearances (including 2012): 2
CIS championship all-time record: 1-2 (.333)
CIS championship all-time medals: 0
CIS championship best result: 5th place (2001)
CIS championship last appearance: 2001 (5th place)
CIS championship sequence: 1st appearance since 2001 (2nd in history) *

* Returned to CIS in 2009-10 after 7 seasons in ACAC

No. 2 McGill Martlets
Head Coach: Peter Smith (12th season)
Regular season record: 18-1-1
Regular season standing: 1st RSEQ
Playoff record: 4-1
Playoff finish: RSEQ champions
Overall record vs. CIS teams: 26-2-1
Overall record vs. teams at CIS championship: 7-1 (1-0 vs. Laurier, 6-1 vs. Montreal)
Top 10 final ranking (Feb. 21): No. 2
Top 10 best ranking: No. 1 (first 10 polls)
Top 10 number of weeks ranked (15 polls): 15
Conference award winners: Ann-Sophie Bettez (MVP), Mélodie Daoust (rookie), Peter Smith (coach)
Conference 1st team all-stars: Charline Labonté (G), Cathy Chartrand (D), Ann-Sophie Bettez (F), Mélodie Daoust (F)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Leslie Oles (F)
Conference all-rookie team: Brittney Fouracres (D), Mélodie Daoust (F)
Season leader (points): Mélodie Daoust (18 GP: 18-25-43)
Season leader (goals): Mélodie Daoust, 18 (18 GP) / Katia Clément-Heydra, 18 (20 GP)
Season leader (assists): Mélodie Daoust, 25 (18 GP)
Season leader (goaltending): Charline Labonté (18 GP, 16-2, 8 SHO, 1.06 GAA, .944 SV%)
CIS championship appearances (including 2012): 13
CIS championship all-time record: 25-11 (.694)
CIS championship all-time medals: 10 (3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze)
CIS championship best result: 3-time champions (2011, 2009, 2008)
CIS championship last appearance: 2011 (champions)
CIS championship sequence: 10th straight appearance (5 straight in gold medal game)

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE

NOTE: Live webcast of all games on SSN Canada (ssncanada.ca)

Thursday, March 8
15:30 Pool A #1: No. 6 Montreal vs. No. 1 Laurier
19:00 Pool B #1: No. 3 Calgary vs. No. 2 McGill

Friday, March 9
15:30 Pool A #2: Loser Pool A #1 vs. No. 4 UPEI
19:00 Pool B #2: Loser Pool B #1 vs. No. 5 Alberta

Saturday, March 10
15:30 Pool A #3: Winner Pool A #1 vs. No. 4 UPEI
19:00 Pool B #3: Winner Pool B #1 vs. No. 5 Alberta

Sunday, March 11
11:00 5th Place
14:00 Bronze
18:00 Final

-UC_