The X-Women hockey team will be competing for the AUS championship title this weekend in Moncton, NB.  The four day tournament is slated to begin Thursday afternoon, carrying through until the championship game on Sunday.

This year’s AUS format has changed from previous years. In the past the tournament has been a three-day affair with a pair of quarterfinal games, followed by the semi-finals and final. This year’s championship mirrors the format of the current CIS championship format where the six participating teams are broken up into two pools of three teams each, with round robin action taking place between the two pools. The two pool winners will then meet for the AUS championship game.

The X-Women (18-2-4) enter the tournament seeded second overall and are in Pool B with No. 3 seeded Saint Mary’s (13-10-1) and No. 5 seeded Dalhousie (11-13-0). The number one seeded and host Moncton Aigles Bleues (21-2-1) are in Pool A with No. 4 St. Thomas (12-10-2) and No. 6 UPEI (7-16-1).

StFX will play Dalhousie in their first round robin game Thursday at 3:00 pm at the J. Louis Levesque Arena in Moncton. The winner of that game will then rest on Friday before playing Saint Mary’s Saturday at 3:00 pm in the other round robin game. The loser of Thursday’s game will meet Saint Mary’s Friday at 3:00 pm.

Pool A play begins Thursday night with Moncton taking on UPEI at 7:00 pm. The winner advances to play St. Thomas on Saturday, while the loser faces St. Thomas Friday at 7:00 pm. The top two teams advancing out of each Pool will meet in the AUS championship game Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm.

X-Women head coach David Synishin will have his troops ready for their first game this afternoon. “This is the closest the league has ever been,” comments Synishin, currently in his 8th year and the X-Women bench boss. “In order for us to be successful we will need everyone playing their best hockey.”

Everyone includes a pair of veteran X-Women leaders on blueliners in captain Suzanne Fenerty and assistant captain Marilynn Hay, who were both named AUS first team all-stars earlier this week. Fenerty (Cole Harbour, NS) is a third year Business student who finished second in scoring among AUS defensemen with a career-high 16 points in 24 games. She also earned the nod as the AUS Most Sportsmanlike Player.

Fourth year Science student Marilynn Hay (Sombra, ON) was named an AUS first team all-star for the fourth consecutive season. She scored 5 goals and added 9 assists for 14 points during the regular season and is a former CIS All-Canadian. Fifth year defenseman Laura Grant will also be called upon to bring leadership to the StFX team that features 10 freshman participating in their first AUS championship, including defender Jenna Downey and forward Abygail Laking who were recently named to the AUS All Rookie team.

Leading the charge with the forwards are co-assistant captains Carolyn Campbell and Jessica Shanahan, who were both named AUS second team all-stars this week. Fourth year Business student Shanahan (Calgary, NS) has accumulated 101 points for the X-Women, spanning her four-year career. This season she tied for sixth overall in AUS scoring with 28 points in 24 games. Third year Human Kinetics student Carolyn Campbell (Ottawa, ON) netted 13 goals and 9 assists for 22 points this year with the second place X-Women. Catie Gavin, Nicole Hansom and AUS Rookie of the Year Abygail Laking will also be called upon for some scoring power up front in this weekend’s championship.

The X-Women are looking to regain their AUS crown from the 2007-08 season after Moncton defeated them in last year’s AUS championship game by a 4-2 score. The X-Women have 7 AUS championship titles to their credit in the 12 year history of the AUS women’s hockey league.

All games will be webcast live by accessing the following link: http://events.startcast.com/events6/15/C0046/Default.aspx

The latest score updates from the Subway AUS Women’s Hockey championship will be posted on www.goxgo.ca, as well on via Twitter.com by following stfxathletics.

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