By Kristi Patton /
Finally, years after it was first introduced to the women’s hockey world, the Clarkson Cup has a home and it’s in Montreal.
The Western Women’s Hockey League Minnesota Whitecaps were defeated 3-1by the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Montreal Stars on March 21 to earn the inaugural title.
In 2006, the Clarkson Cup was given as a gift to women’s hockey by former governor general Adrienne Clarkson. The trophy was intended to be awarded to the excellence in female hockey but due to a legal issue with the artists who designed and created the cup and the inability for a proper venue to award it, that was put on hold. That is, until a financial settlement with the artists was made. On March 21, Clarkson was on-hand to present Stars captain Lise-Marie Breton with ?that honour.
Stars Shauna Denis opened scoring in the second period on a 2-on-1 opportunity. The Whitecaps rallied back and Angela Ruggiero roofed it past Kim St. Pierre to knot the game 1-1. Less than two minutes later, Sabrina Harbec forced the puck past ‘Caps netminder Sanya Sandahl who was searching for the puck after a big rebound. The goal by Harbec, a castoff from the national team after a September evaluation camp, proved to be the winner. She finished the season fifth overall in scoring in the CWHL and also added an assist in the national championship game.
Breaking into the third period of the finals, the Stars’ Marie-Philip Poulin notched the final goal of the game, snapping the puck just under Sandahl’s glove to make it 3-1.
The Whitcaps, who won the WWHL league championship just weeks prior, kicked off the tournament with a 4-3 win in overtime over the Stars. The win put them into ?the semi-finals.
Also representing the WWHL was the league’s second place team, Calgary Oval X-Treme. Their opening night at the national championships pitted them against hometown favourite Jayna Hefford and the Brampton Canadette-Thunder. After spending most of the game ahead, the Thunder pulled a third period comeback, scoring four goals to defeat the X-Treme 4-3. Hefford deked her way around the X-Treme jerseys to a breakaway which was denied by goalie Kendall Newell. Thunder forward Nicole Ruta was following behind and pushed the puck past Newell into the open net which turned out to be the game winner. The Stars then defeated the Thunder 4-1 to set up the finals.
The Whitecaps led the tournament awards with top role model given to Julie Chu, top defenseman given to Caitlin Cahow and the MVP awarded to Jenny Potter. Top goaltender was given to Kim St. Pierre of the Montreal Stars and her teammate Caroline Ouellette won top forward of the tournament.
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