The U18 Women’s National Hockey Championships came to a dramatic conclusion on Sunday, with Ontario Red winning gold in a nail-biting 2-1 overtime victory over Manitoba for their ninth National Championship title. Ontario Blue was able to hang on against a tenacious BC squad that refused to quit to claim the bronze by a score of 4-3.
In the gold medal game, Captain Lindsay Agnew was the hero for Ontario Red, scoring the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining in the 20-minute overtime period to the delight of a packed Summit Centre crowd. Agnew earned Ontario’s Player of the Game honours for her efforts, and led the tournament in goals (4) and total points (6 – tied with Manitoba’s Sheridan Oswald).
The winning marker came after Manitoba had several quality chances of their own to end the game with a dangerous 4-on-3 powerplay, but couldn’t solve goalie Stephanie Neatby and her shot-blocking defense. At the other end of the ice, Manitoba netminder Tory Micklash was brilliant, making 31 saves to keep her team in contention right to the very end.
Sarah Verbeek opened the scoring for Ontario Red with just over five minutes into the first, banging in a rebound past Micklash with Jaime Bourbonnais and Annie Berg drawing the assists. A relentless Ontario attack continued into the second, but neither team was able to convert and the score remained 1-0 after 40 minutes of play. Down by a goal, Manitoba was only able to muster one shot on net in the third, but that’s all they would need as Jaedon Cooke notched her first of the tournament to tie the score and force the extra frame. Manitoba showed perfect discipline in avoiding the penalty box all night, playing just the second penalty-free game in tournament history, while their silver medal was the second win by the province in the last three years.
Kayla Friesen fires a shot on goal in the third period of the gold medal game on Sunday
The bronze medal game also had its share of theatrics, with seven goals scored and 12 minor penalties handed out between the two teams. Victoria Klimek got things started for Ontario Blue, scoring her first goal since the opening match of the tournament to put her team up 1-0 heading into the first intermission. BC didn’t take long to rally, as Amy Potomak responded with a shorthanded tally just 1:32 into the second to even things up, before Ontario scored back-to-back goals from Meaghan Hector and Celine Frappier just two-and-a-half minutes apart to go up by a pair 3-1.
Ontario Blue celebrates their fourth tournament medal (bronze) in their last five national championships
The offense continued from Ontario in the third, as Brianna Gaffney added some insurance halfway through the period to give Blue what seemed like an insurmountable 4-1 lead. But BC refused to go down without a fight, pulling their goalie with five minutes to play as Potomak scored her second of the game to cut the deficit to 4-2. Alexandra Rempe then added her first point of the week to make it a one-goal game with just over a minute to play, as BC did everything they could to find the equalizer. Despite several more chances, they came up just short of a medal, as Ontario Blue hung on for the Bronze.
A full summary of the tournament can be found on Hockey Canada’s website or by clicking here.
Tory Micklash of Manitoba (left) and Lindsay Agnew of Ontario were named the gold medal Players of the Game for their respective teams
Ontario Red Captain Lindsay Agnew celebrates winning the U18 Women’s National Hockey Championship after her team went undefeated through five games
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