2009 National Women's Under-18 Championship

ONTARIO BLUE ADVANCES TO SEMIS WITH SHOOTOUT WIN

SURREY, B.C. – Kristen Richards (Toronto, Ont.) and Rylee Smith (Hagersville, Ont.) of Ontario Blue both fired the puck passed the Team Atlantic goal line in shootout action Friday morning to secure their team a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals.

But while the victory was sweet it wasn’t easy for the central Canadian squad, which had to deal with an impressive comeback by Team Atlantic and solve netminder Carmen MacDonald (Pictou, N.S.), who stopped 39 shots over four periods of play including an overtime period that had the crowd at South Surrey Arena going wild.

Amanda Lucky (Kanata, Ont.) kicked off one of the most exciting games of the tournament with the first goal for Ontario Blue, using a pass from Smith to put her team up on the scoreboard at 15:06 in the first period.

Melanie Desrochers (Welland, Ont.) made it 2-0 for Ontario Blue during an early power play in the second. But the rest of the period was all Team Atlantic, with Jenna Pitts (Antigonish, N.S.) putting one up on the scoreboard and Alex Normore (Bedford, N.S.) scoring while her team had a 5-on-3 advantage.

The third was evenly matched, with Sarah Davis (Paradise, N.L.) giving Team Atlantic a short-lived 3-2 lead less than one into the period, and Ontario Blue’s Danielle Gagne (Brampton, Ont.) tying it up to send the game into five minutes of overtime.

But five minutes of fast-paced play didn’t find a winning team, forcing the shootout that decided the game. Team Atlantic plays an undetermined team Saturday morning, but it’s Ontario Blue that takes to the ice in the afternoon for semi-final action.