Links - CIS2009 CIS womens field hockey championship No 3 - North River Minor Hockey Association

CIS2009 CIS womens field hockey championship No 3 Vikes aim for rare home repeat 2009 CIS womens field hockey championship No 3 Vikes aim for rare home repeatVICTORIA (CIS) The thirdseeded University of Victoria Vikes hope to become only the second team in history to capture backtoback McCrae Cups on home turf when they host the CIS womens field hockey championship for the second consecutive year from Nov 58The same five teams will compete for the McCrae Cup for the second straight season as the Vikes secondplace finishers in the Canada West conference this fall will be joined on the West Coast by the topseeded and OUA champion Guelph Gryphons No 2 and Canada West champion UBC Thunderbirds No 4 and OUA finalist Toronto Varsity Blues and No 5 and Canada West thirdplace finisher Alberta PandasA year ago in a surprising national final between the two lowest seeds No 4Victoria edged No 5Alberta 21 to tie UBCs alltime record of 11 McCrae Cup triumphs one more than TorontoThe 2009 tournament gets under way Thursday with the first of three days of roundrobin competition Every team will face each of its rivals once with the two squads with the best records at the end of the preliminary round advancing to Sundays national final at 1 pm Pacific TimeNo 1 Guelph and No 2 UBC kick off the tourney Thursday at 930 am PT with Victoria opening its title defence versus Toronto at 1150 am PTSince the first CIS championship in 1975 only the Toronto Varsity Blues have been crowned at home in consecutive seasons back in 1985 and 1986The last repeat champions were the UBC Thunderbirds who hoisted the Cup in Toronto (at York) in 2003 and in Edmonton (at Alberta) in 2004 Victoria has claimed backtoback titles on two occasions first in 1991 and 1992 then in 1994 and 1995Victoria UBC and Toronto have dominated CIS womens field hockey over the years winning 32 of 34 banners Alberta in 2005 and Dalhousie back in 1976 boast the other titlesWhile the Vikes are defending champions and will have homefield advantage the two favourites heading into this weeks tourney are Guelph and UBC who met in the bronzemedal game a year ago with the Thunderbirds prevailing 30The topranked Gryphons are undefeated in 2009 going 1202 in conference play before adding two victories in the playoffs including a 10 goldmedal win over Toronto for their second OUA title in three years and the second in team historyGuelph whose best result at the CIS tournament is a silvermedal finish in 2007 is led by the prolific Stairs sister from Kitchener Ont Brienne a thirdyear junior was named OUA MVP this season after she led the nation for the second straight year with 30 goals in 14 conference games while younger sister Tegan was selected OUA rookie of the year following a sevengoal c...