X-Women to face off against UBC on Friday
By Corey LeBlanc
The White and Blue have only one colour in mind – gold – as they prepare for a return to the women's hockey national title stage this weekend.
The STFX X-Women – seeded seventh – will be one of eight teams vying for the 2023 U SPORTS Women's Hockey Championship, from Thursday to Sunday, at Aréna CEPSUM in Montreal.
The Atlantic University Sport (AUS) runners-up will open the tournament on Friday – at 4 p.m. ADT – in a quarter-final match-up with the Canada West champions and second-seeded UBC Thunderbirds.
"We are going to have to come out fast," X-Women head coach Ben Berthiaume, who won his third AUS coach of the year award this season, says.
He adds that "taking care of our end" will be crucial; something that becomes even more magnified at this time of the season – where each game is a battle.
"We have to make sure we take away their high-end chances," Berthiaume offers of the Thunderbirds, noting their ability to generate offense "off the rush."
Considering UBC has "strong goaltending," he says the X-Women will have to take advantage of their "scoring chances."
"You may not get many [opportunities]," Berthiaume adds, considering how tightly-contested games are in the championship tournament.
To help capitalize on those chances, the X-Women boast the top offense in the AUS this season, scoring 110 goals, which was 29 more than any other team in the conference. It is a mark that also led U SPORTS, as did their number of assists (173).
STFX also led the nation in goals per game (3.93), shots (1082) and shots per game (38.6), while their power play (26) and short-handed (eight) goals were the best in the conference.
Junior Maggie Burbidge (Falmouth, NS) fashioned a spectacular season, finishing with 47 points, including 25 goals and 22 assists. She led the AUS in all three categories, while topping U SPORTS in points and plus-minus rating (+33) and earned recognition as a U SPORTS first team All-Canadian.
The White and Blue finished with four out of five leading scorers in the AUS, with Burbidge followed by fellow U SPORTS first team All-Canadian Lauren Dabrowski (Tiny, ON), who tied for second, with 34 points, while Lea MacLeod (Dartmouth, NS) and Chloe Vukosa (Mississauga, ON) took the fourth and fifth spots, with 32 and 31 points, respectively.
The trio of Burbidge, Dabrowski and MacLeod earned AUS first-team all-star nods.
Although they dominated the top-end of the AUS race, scoring balance has been the key to offensive success this season; something that will have to continue at nationals, according to Berthiaume.
"Teams are going to focus on your top scorers, so everyone has to chip in," he says.
With the second-lowest goals against (54) in the league, the White and Blue posted the top goal differential at plus-56.
With a stout defense in front of them – one that includes the likes of AUS all-rookie team member Kya Moss (Port Moody, BC) and veteran captain Josie Chisholm (Antigonish, NS) – goaltenders Amaya Giraudier (Assiniboia, SK) and Jamie Johnson (Victoria, BC) shared duties between the pipes, with both posting 10 regular-season victories. Giraudier finished with a 1.84 goals against average (GAA) and .926 save percentage, while Johnson finished at 1.92 and .917.
"She is playing really well, so we are going to go that route," Berthiaume offers in confirming that Johnson, who has been in the crease for the playoffs, will get the start against the Thunderbirds.
He agrees that the junior backstop – and her team – will benefit from her experience at the national tournament.
"Jamie has been there before – so we know she will be ready," Berthiaume says.
After finishing second in the regular season behind the defending conference champion UNB Reds, with a 20-5-2-1 record, the ever-growing rivals clashed in a best-out-of-three series for an AUS banner earlier this month.
"It was a tough loss, for sure, but it was a great series between two evenly matched teams," Berthiaume said.
After STFX skated to a 2-1 road victory in the opening game, the Reds evened the series with a 1-0 victory at the Keating Centre. Back in Fredericton for the third-and-deciding game, the home side secured their second consecutive AUS crown with a 3-2 triumph in double overtime.
"We played really well," Berthiaume said of getting the jump in the series – one featuring a pair of "great skating teams."
In Game 2, on home ice in front of a capacity crowd, he noted the X-Women "came out a bit tentatively."
As for the decider, Berthiaume said, "It could have gone either way."
He added, "It was a hard-fought series."
UNB, ranked fourth in the national tournament, will face off versus the host Montréal Carabins in an 8:30 p.m. puck drop on Thursday.
Reiterating that it is "always tough to score" at nationals, Berthiaume stresses that the X-Women will have "to do a good job around the net."
"We want to play fast, keep moving our feet and put pressure on," he says.
Berthiaume agrees that it is wide open field, when it comes to contenders for the gold medal.
"Anyone can beat anyone," he says, noting that – because of that parity – a "bounce here and there" can be the difference between winning and losing.
Berthiaume adds, "So, you have to be ready to go; do the things that we do well and, hopefully, those bounces will go our way."
All games will be webcast live on CBC Sports digital platforms (English) and USPORTS.ca (French), up to and including Sunday's gold medal game, which will get underway at 8 p.m. ADT. Sunday's gold-medal game will also be telecast in French on TVA Sports. The webcast schedule will be available throughout the tournament at CBC Gem or online at https://www.cbc.ca/player/sports/live
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