BOX SCORE

EDMONTON – The Canada West champion University of Calgary Dinos opened the 2012 CIS women's hockey championship in Edmonton with a stellar effort, knocking off the defending national champion McGill Martlets 1-0 at Clare Drake Arena Thursday night.

Sinead Tracey's garbage goal midway through the first period stood up as the game winner, while Amanda Tapp outduelled McGill's star netminder Charline Labonté in a 20-save shutout as the Dinos won their opener at the national tournament in their first appearance since 2001.

It was a physical, hard-fought, highly entertaining hockey game between two of the best teams in the nation facing off in the so-called “Pool of Death” at the event. Both teams will now face the host Alberta Pandas to round out pool play – McGill on Friday night, followed by Calgary on Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on SSNCanada.ca.

“We knew that with Labonté in their net, it wouldn't be a pretty goal and we'd need to put pucks on net to be successful,” said a jubilant Calgary head coach Danielle Goyette. “We have to give credit to our goalie too – she wasn't flashy, but she made the right saves at the right time. To be successful in a championship you have to have a good goalie, and she did that tonight.”

Tapp steered aside just 20 shots to earn her second straight shutout after blanking Alberta 2-0 in Game 2 of the Canada West final as the Calgary forwards and defence did a great job of keeping the highly-skilled Martlets away from danger areas. Still, she was called upon to be big for her team on a couple of occasions, including a redirection in front that was headed for the back of the net before Tapp slid out with her right toe to kick it aside.

On the other end of the ice, national team 'keeper Labonté stopped 22 of the 23 shots fired at her by the Dinos in an outstanding goaltending performance. Labonté robbed Calgary's Russian sniper Iya Gavrilova on multiple occasions, including a post-to-post effort in the first on a great feed from Hayley Wickenheiser across to Gavrilova. The Russian national teamer ended the night with six shots, all of which were denied by the first team CIS All-Canadian netminder.

“It's never easy to score on her, and she's a goalie I really admire and love watching her play,” said Tapp. “But when it comes down to the game, she's 200 feet away from me and I just need to play my game and focus on what I need to do to help my team win. That's my job, that's all I can do, and it's all I can control. It's a game of bounces – we had a few that luckily bounced out of the net instead of in. In one-game tournaments like this, you need to win those battles and those bounces.”

One of those bounces was a rare rebound off Labonté midway through the opening period. A shot from Melissa Zubick made its way toward the goal and bounced out to Sinead Tracey. From her knees, the Dinos forward swatted at the puck and bounced it in over the glove of the McGill netminder for the game's only goal.

Referee Meghan Mallette let the teams play for the bulk of the night, whistling just two infractions on the night – one to either side. The result was a physical game with all kinds of battles along the boards and end-to-end action, despite the relatively low number of shots on goal.

“You don't see many games like that, it was pretty amazing,” said Goyette. “I've never seen a game of that calibre at the CIS level before. As a coach and as a fan, they put a show on tonight and it was amazing to watch.”

Both teams were unsuccessful on their lone power play opportunities.

The Martlets move on to face the host Pandas Friday night, needing a win to keep their title defence hopes alive.

A Calgary victory over Alberta on Saturday will put the Dinos in the first championship game in program history. The Dinos swept Alberta in straight games to win the Canada West title two weeks ago in Calgary.

In the tournament opener earlier Thursday, sixth-seeded Montreal stunned top-seed Wilfrid Laurier 6-5, handing the Golden Hawks their first regulation loss of the season as the top two seeds in the tournament went down to defeat on Day 1 of the event.

SCORING SUMMARY
Calgary 1 vs McGill 0 - Status: Final
Thursday, March 8, 2012 - Clare Drake Arena

Calgary 1 0 0 - 1
McGill 0 0 0 - 0

1st Period-1, Calgary, Tracey 1 (Zubick), 11:47. Penalties-Smith Cgy (tripping), 20:00.

2nd Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Chartrand Mcg (roughing), 8:18.

3rd Period- No Scoring. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Calgary 12-7-4-23. McGill 7-7-6-20.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 0 / 1; McGill 0 / 1.
Goalies-Calgary, Tapp 1-0-0 (20 shots-20 saves). McGill, Labonté 0-1-0 (23 shots-22 saves).
A-508
Referees-Meghan Mallette.
Linesmen-Danielle McGurry, Amanda Allaire.

2012 CIS WOMEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

STANDINGS (After Day 1)

Pool A         GP    W    OTW    OTL    L    GF    GA    PTS
1. Montreal    1    1    0    0    0    6    5    3
2. UPEI          0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
3. Laurier      1    0    0    0    1    5    6    0

Pool B        GP    W    OTW    OTL    L    GF    GA    PTS
1. CALGARY    1    1    0    0    0    1    0    3
2. Alberta          0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0
3. McGill            1    0    0    0    1    0    1    0
 
NOTE (scoring system):
Win in regulation (W): 3 points
Win in overtime or shootout (OTW): 2 points
Loss in overtime or shootout (OTL): 1 point
Loss in regulation (L): 0 points
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (all times MT)
Thursday, March 8
Pool A #1: Montreal 6 vs. Laurier 5 - FINAL
Pool B #1: Calgary 1 vs. McGill 0 - FINAL
 
Friday, March 9
15:30 Pool A #2: Laurier  vs. UPEI
19:00 Pool B #2: McGill vs. Alberta
 
Saturday, March 10
15:30 Pool A #3: Montreal vs. UPEI
19:00 Pool B #3: Calgary vs. Alberta
 
Sunday, March 11
11:00 5th Place
14:00 Bronze
18:00 Final

-UC-