Team Red 6 - Team Black 5 Fall Festival TEAM RED CAPTURES NATIONAL WOMEN’S TEAM FALL FESTIVAL Kenora, ON – The town of Kenora gave the National Women’s Team Fall Festival a spectacular send-off on Saturday night, filling the Kenora Recreational Centre with 2006 fans for the Championship Game between Team Red and Team Black. And the teams responded in kind, with an end-to-end, exciting game which was finally decided in a shootout, as Caroline Ouellette scored in the seventh round of shootouts to give Team Red a 6-5 victory. Ouellette also scored twice in regulation, while Hayley Wickenheiser tallied two goals for Team Black in the game. After a few minutes of readjusting to 5 on 5 hockey, the teams started generating numerous chances. Monica Dupuis (Memramcook, NB) got Team Black on the board first, while killing a penalty, pulling away from a defender and sliding the puck under Sami Jo Small for a 1-0 lead. On Team Red’s next power play, it was a different story. Off the faceoff, the puck came to defenceman Cathy Chartrand (Lac Nominigue, QC) whose slapshot beat Kim St-Pierre. Team Red continued to press but St-Pierre held strong. After the first period, it was 1-1, with Team Red dominating on the shot clock 17-9. Team Red again bombarded Kim St-Pierre in the second frame, outshooting Team Black 23-11. But the score was tied once the second period came to an end. Gillian Apps (Unionville, ON) gave Team Black a 2-1 lead, only to watch Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, QC) nod the game at 2-2 less than a minute later. Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, SK) and Kelly Béchard (Sedley, SK) exchanged goals to close out the second period. Nothing was settled, as the scored was tied at 3-3. Both coaches changed goaltenders to start the third period, with Laura Hosier (Sharon, ON) taking over for St-Pierre, and Small giving way to Shannon Szabados (Edmonton, AB). Sommer West (Bowmanville, ON) gave Team Red a brief 4-3 lead in the final period, banking the puck in from the side of the net on St-Pierre. But a mere 13 seconds later, Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, QC), on an impressive individual effort, beat Small at the other end and the tie was restored. Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, QC) put Team Red ahead again, coming in off the wing and firing a quick shot past St-Pierre at 9:08. But once again, the lead was shortlived. This time, Wickenheiser, shorthanded, registered her second of the night 37 seconds later. A five minute overtime settled nothing and each and every one of the 2006 fans in attendance was on the end of their seat for the shootout. Danielle Goyette, Team Red’s third shooter, scored to give her team a lead, but Gillian Apps responded to the pressure, scoring as Team Black’s final shooter in the first round of shootouts. It took two more rounds to determine a winner, as Caroline Ouellette beat Hosier after watching Szabados turn aside Dupuis. Team Red gets the win 6-5. |
For more information: André Brin Director, Communications | Directeur, relations médias |