Downie-Landry notches natural hat trick to lead LHFDQ Nord to win over North Bay

by Alexa Dziubenko

BURNABY, B.C. – Captain Jade Downie-Landry (St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.) certainly showed why she’s a team leader for LHFDQ Nord (Quebec), scoring three goals in the third period for a natural hat trick, boosting her team to a 3-1 win over the North Bay Ice (Ontario) to kick off Day 4 at the 2013 Esso Cup in beautiful Burnaby.

It was a scoreless first period, despite North Bay racking up eight penalties and LHFDQ Nord outshooting the opposition 9-2. Great defensive plays by Courtney Geisler (Powassan, Ont.), Corie Jacobson (Warren, Ont.) and Taylor Murphy (Corbeil, Ont.) helped keep the Ontario reps in the game, while Sabrina Picard (Hearst, Ont.) shut down both of Quebec’s two man-advantages.

North Bay cleaned up its act for the second period, taking a 1-0 lead over LHFDQ Nord in the last second of a power play when Murphy scored, assisted by Geisler and Toni Maisonneuve (North Bay, Ont.).

But the Ontario reps lost some footing late in the game, taking a whopping 16 penalties in the game, including a five-minute game misconduct to Geisler and a double minor to Julie Vaillancourt (North Bay, Ont.) in the third.

The late game North Bay breakdown gave LHFDQ Nord the chance to steal the lead, with Downie-Landry at the helm of an impressive third period comeback. Her first goal came at 3:36 in the period on assists from Eve-Audrey Picard (Longueuil, Que.) and Valerie Audet (St-Bruno, Que.), while her next hit the back of the net on a power play at 8:55 with Audet and Audrey Belzile (St-Hyacinthe, Que.) helping out.

LHFDQ Nord’s – and Downie Landry’s – third and final goal of the game came at 12:52 in the final frame, with teammates Belzile and Audet working together to get the puck to their captain, and again across the North Bay goal line to seal the 3-1 win and another three points in Esso Cup standings.

Downie-Landry was rightfully named Player of the Game for LHFDQ Nord, and the victorious Quebec players smiled proudly as they skated past adoring elementary schools fans that were in attendance as part of Hockey Canada’s schools program.

“In between the second and the third, we went in the hallway and the kids all wanted autographs. We were signing autographs (and) it motivated us,” Downie-Landry said earlier this week of how the school children help inspire them on the ice. “There’s usually not that much noise, but with the kids (cheering) it pump us up.”

Catch more Esso Cup action when LHFDQ Nord takes on the Edmonton Thunder (Pacific) on Thursday, April 25 at 12 p.m. PT, and when North Bay faces off against tournament hosts the Fraser Valley Phantom at 7:30 p.m. PT in the evening game.

Watch all the action live on FASTHockey by visiting www.hockeycanada.fasthockey.com and follow the games on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/HC_EssoCup.