McGill seeded No. 1 for third straight year

ANTIGONISH, N.S. (CIS) – The defending national champion McGill Martlets have been established tournament favourites for the third consecutive year going into the 2009 CIS women’s hockey championship.

Championship website: www.universitysport.ca/e/championships/w_hockey/2009 

The six-team championship, hosted by St. Francis Xavier University, gets under way Thursday at 4 p.m. Atlantic Time with the first of six round-robin duels and concludes Sunday at 8 p.m. Atlantic with the gold-medal final.

The national final can be seen on The Score Television Network on a two-hour tape delay at 10 p.m. Atlantic (9 p.m. Eastern), while SSN Canada will webcast all games from the tournament.

Joining Quebec conference champion McGill this week in Antigonish, N.S., are the tournament host and No. 5-ranked StFX X-Women (AUS finalists), as well as the No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA champions), No. 3 Manitoba Bisons (Canada West champions), No. 4 Moncton Aigles Bleues (AUS champions) and No. 6 Ottawa Gee-Gees (QSSF finalists).

The No. 1 Martlets, who captured their first-ever CIS title a year ago with a 2-0 gold-medal win over Laurier, will skate in pool A alongside Manitoba and StFX in the round-robin portion of the championship alongside. Pool B is comprised of Laurier, Moncton and Ottawa.

Laurier and Ottawa kick off the competition Thursday at 4 p.m., while McGill opens its title defence at 7 p.m. against Manitoba. Moncton and StFX will take the ice on Friday against the losers of the opening-day duels.

The CIS major award winners and the all-Canadian teams will be unveiled at a banquet Wednesday night.

NOTE: A complete championship preview will follow.

SEEDING & POOLS
1. McGill Martlets (QSSF champions / 18-0 regular season, 4-0 playoffs)
2. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA champions / 26-1 regular season, 4-1 playoffs)
3. Manitoba Bisons (Canada West champions / 21-2-1 regular season, 4-1 playoffs)
4. Moncton Aigles Bleues (AUS champions / 22-0-2 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
5. St. Francis Xavier X-Women (AUS finalists / 19-3-2 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)
6. Ottawa Gee-Gees (QSSF finalists / 8-8-2 regular season, 2-3 playoffs)

Pool A
1. McGill
3. Manitoba
5. StFX

Pool B
2. Wilfrid Laurier
4. Moncton
6. Ottawa

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (All times LOCAL: Atlantic Time)

Wednesday, March 18
12:00 pm Media Conference
6:30 pm All-Canadian Banquet

Thursday, March 19
4:00 pm Pool B #1: No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier vs. No. 6 Ottawa (SSN Canada webcast)
7:30 pm Pool A #1: No. 1 McGill vs. No. 3 Manitoba (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, March 20
4:00 pm Pool B #2: No. 4 Moncton vs. Loser Pool B #1 (SSN Canada webcast)   
7:30 pm Pool A #2: No. 5 StFX vs. Loser Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast)  

Saturday, March 21
4:00 pm Pool B #3: No. 4 Moncton vs. Winner Pool B #1 (SSN Canada webcast)  
7:30 pm Pool A #3: No. 5 StFX vs. Winner Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast) 

Sunday, March 22
10:00 am 5th Place (SSN Canada webcast)
2:00 pm Bronze (SSN Canada webcast)
8:00 pm Final (THE SCORE * / SSN Canada webcast)
* 2-hour tape delay to 10 pm Atlantic / 9 pm Eastern