Links - 2008 CIS Womens Hockey Championships - North River Minor Hockey Association

2008 CIS Womens Hockey ChampionshipsUNIVERSITYSPORTCAFRANAIS CONTACT US HOMEMarch 17 2009 PRINT THIS STORYCIS championship PREVIEW No 1 Martlets overwhelming favourites to repeat ANTIGONISH NS (CIS) To say that the defending national champion McGill Martlets are the overwhelming favourites to once again capture the CIS womens hockey title this week might be the understatement of the year in CIS sportsChampionship website wwwuniversitysportcaechampionshipswhockey2009 The sixteam championship hosted by St Francis Xavier University gets under way Thursday at 4 pm Atlantic with the first of six roundrobin duels and concludes Sunday at 8 pm with the goldmedal finalThe national final can be seen on The Score Television Network (twohour tape delayed to 10 pm) while SSN Canada will webcast all nine games from the tournament After knocking on the door for several years thanks in large part to the stellar play of Olympic goldmedalist goaltenders Kim StPierre and Charline Labont including a pair of silvermedal finishes and four bronzes the Martlets finally reached the top of the CIS womens hockey world a year ago in Ottawa when they blanked the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 20 in the title matchLabont a native of Boisbriand Que who is in her third season with the team earned the goldmedal shutout over the Hawks at last winters championship and was also in net for shutout wins over Manitoba (60) and St Francis Xavier (30) in roundrobin play making her the only netminder in history to go the entire CIS tournament without allowing a single goalA gold medalist for Canada at the 2006 Olympics in Italy Labont was named on Tuesday as a Team Canada member for the upcoming 2009 IIHF world championship (April 412 Hameenlinna Finland) The fivefootnine goalie is one of many allstars on a talented McGill squad that travels to Antigonish NS riding a 51game win streak against CIS opponents dating back to December 30 2007 (a 21 OT loss to Alberta) led all 17 national coaches polls in 200809 and has topped 29 straight CIS rankings over the past two seasons The Martlets went 330 overall versus CIS rivals this year including an 180 mark in conference play and a 40 record in the playoffsThirdyear defenceman Catherine Ward (Mt Royal Que) the CIS rookie of the year in 200607 and an allCanadian each of her first two seasons at McGill also made the Team Canada roster for the IIHF Worlds marking her first selection to the senior national team after three stints with the Canadian under22 squad where Canada won a silver in Germany last January after capturing gold medals the previous two yearsSophomore AnnSophie Bettez (Septles Que) the top CIS freshman a year ago won the QSSF scoring race this season with 24 goals and 30 assists for 54 points in just 18 conference games setting league re...