Aigles Bleues skate away with AUS title

Sunday afternoon at MacLauchlan arena StFX and UdeM battled to see who would become the 2008-09 AUS champion. The Universite de Moncton prevailed 4-2 in a well played game in front of loud crowd.

The first five minutes was all StFX with 5-0 shots on net but were unable to beat the AUS MVP Kathy Desjardins. The game soon changed when Moncton took two shots and scored on both. Valerie Boisclair scored twice, the first goal was scored with lots of traffic in front of Katie Harvieux of StFX who could not nab the puck. The second goal two minutes later featured great board work by Moncton with the puck popping out and Boisclair making no mistake with a nice back hand to put the Aigles Bleues up 2-0.

The next five minutes of play saw a flurry of penalties and emotions running high on both sides.  At 13:07, StFX came down ice and Carolyn Campbell placed a nice shot in the top far corner to close the gap. Moncton led the game 2-1 at the end of the first period of play but StFX out shot them by a 13-3 margin.

The second period was non stop action. At the 11 minute mark StFX tied the game on a power play as Brayden Ferguson found the back of the net from a pass placed perfectly by Erin Brophy. What happened next broke the game wide open. Anna Barrett slashed the Moncton netminder Desjardins and received 2 minutes for roughing, 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike, 5 minutes for slashing and a game misconduct. Erin Brophy also from X earned 2 minutes for roughing and 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike along with Genevieve David from Moncton.

Moncton took advantage of the 5 on 3 early and scored within 30 seconds to regain the one-goal lead at 3-2. Marieve Provost earned the goal and was assisted by Kristine LaBrie.

In the third period StFX out shot Moncton again 14-8 but was unable to score. They pulled Harvieux late in an effort to gain the tie, but Moncton gained control of the puck and Provost earned her second goal of the game with the empty netter to end it 4-2, with 42 seconds left on the clock.

Moncton wins their second AUS championship in three years over. Both teams have qualified for the CIS national championship being held at StFX Univeristy from March 19-22. Moncton advances as the AUS champion while StFX earns a berth as the host team.

The Keith's Tournament MVP and winner of $1000 was Moncton's Marieve Provost. The AUS Tournament All-Star team consisted of the following:

Lyse Rossignol, Forward, St. Thomas
Valerie Boisclair, Forward, Moncton
Brayden Ferguson, Forward, StFX
Suzanne Fenerty, Defense, StFX
Laura Shearer, Defense, Dalhousie
Kathy Desjardins, Goaltender, Moncton

Story courtesy UPEI Sports Information