2005 Esso Women's Nationals

Quebec -11 Alberta -1

Round Robin
March 11, 2005
Sarnia, ON

by Dave Bisson

In a match up that featured 1 team playoff bound and 1 team playing for pride it was 3 and 0 Quebec taking on 0 and 3 Alberta.  Early in the game at the 53 second mark, Alberta’s Trina Slivinski was sent off for tripping to give Quebec  an early Power Play. Some determined penalty killing by Alberta limited Quebec to 2 shots turned away easily by goalie Janelle Huls. Quebec got on the board first after a nice rush by Gina Kingsbury and from behind the Alberta net she slid a perfect pass to Vesna Azman who went five hole to put Quebec up 1-0. For a team that had gone scoreless the first 3 games of the Tournament, Alberta came out very strong and upped their forechecking on a Quebec team that was a little slow getting to the puck and Alberta was creating turnovers and scoring chances. Continued solid goaltending by Huls which included a great split save on Kingsbury kept it 1-0 until the 12 minute mark when Jesse Scanzano scored her 1st of the game. Quebec had a goal disallowed at 14:53 but just minutes later Kingsbury stole the puck behind  Alberta’s net and beat Huls to make it 3-0. Alberta wasn’t without their chances and a couple of good glove saves by Charline Labonte’ kept the score 3-0 after 1 period. 23 seconds in to the 2nd period Annie Desrosiers scored her first of 2 goals in the period to give Quebec a 4-0 lead. With Alberta looking to break out of their zone, an unsuspecting Nadine Ricioppo skates behind her Alberta net and is hit by Catherine Bertrand of Quebec. The hit results in a broken arm for Ricioppo and ejection for Bertrand.  On the power play, Alberta finally breaks the goose egg 1 minute and 40 seconds in as Erin Gray finds the back of the net on a low shot from the point. The only assist went to Jody Coughlan. An eruption takes place on the Alberta bench that would make anyone smile and cheer. As the period played on, the skill and size of Quebec was obviously a huge advantage and they carried the play adding 3 more goals, Desroosiers with her 2nd and 1 each by Emmanuelle Blais and Lisa-Marie Breton. The score heading in to the 3rd period was 7-1 Quebec.

The 3rd and final period of the Championships for Alberta will have them finish 0-4 but this team played every minute of every game like it was for the Gold Medal. They displayed Heart, Determination and incredible Sportsmanship. They never got down on one another and epitomized the word “TEAM” In the 3rd period it was much the same as Quebec would apply pressure on Huls, Alberta would defend as best as possible and play as hard as the could. Quebec added 4 goals in the 3rd period, 2 by Isabelle Chartrand, Jesse Scarzano with her 2nd and Leanne Martel added 1 for a final score of 11-1. Goalies Janelle Huls and Tasha Sherbank have not had any breaks during these games. Huls faced 56 shots against Quebec and many of the saves were top notch.  Here is a young lady who was playing AA hockey this year and look where she is now. Facing some of the best players in the world and stoning them every chance she gets.