2006-07 National Women's Team

SMALL COMES UP BIG AS WHITE WINS 4-ON-4

Goaltender Sami Jo Small (Winnipeg, MB) turned aside 48 shots as Team White wrapped up the National Women’s Team’s evaluation camp with an 8-6 win over Team Red in Friday morning’s 4-on-4 game in Calgary.

The game featured National Women’s Team members, as well as members of the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Canucks.

Despite being outshot 53-30, White got a pair of goals from Delaney Collins (Pilot Mound, MB) and Kyle Burton, and singles from Jennifer Jeffrey (Zurich, ON), Sommer West (Bowmanville, ON), Jayna Hefford (Kingston, ON), and Danielle Goyette (St-Nazaire, QC) to pick up the win.

But Small was the big story, making a number of huge stops, including a pair of late saves off Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, SK) with the game still in doubt. She made 12 saves in the first period, 21 in the second and 14 more in the third to register the win.

Canucks forward Ben Farrer had a pair of goals for Red, while Wickenheiser, Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, QC), Noémie Marin (Montreal, QC) and Katie Weatherston (Thunder Bay, ON) put pucks past White goaltender Charline Labonté, who made 22 saves in a losing cause.

Tied 3-3 after 20 minutes, White pulled away in the middle frame, outscoring Red 3-1 in the period to take a 6-4 lead. Marin’s goal got Red to within one early in the third, but goals from Burton and Collins just 44 seconds apart put the game away for White.

Burton added an assist to his pair of goals, while Bennett Royer added a pair of assists in the win for White.

Following the game, National Women’s Team head coach/general manager Melody Davidson was presented with a Coaching Excellence Award from the Coaching Association of Canada.

Davidson was one of 40 coaches from across the country to receive the award, which recognizes coaches whose athletes have won medals in open world championships, at an Olympic Games, at a Special Olympics World Games, or at a Paralympic Games.