CANADA’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S UNDER-22/DEVELOPMENT TEAM OPENS MECO CUP WITH 4-1 WIN OVER GERMANY

SONTHOFEN, Germany –Canada opened the 2012 MecoCup women's hockey tournament with a 4-1 victory over Germany on Tuesday.

Jillian Saulnier (Halifax, N.S./Cornell University, ECAC) scored for the defending champions at 8:57 of the first period. Bettina Evers tied the game at 11:22, but Chelsea Karpenko (Winnipeg, Man./Cornell University, ECAC) restored the Canadian lead midway through the second.

In the third, Isabel Menard (Ottawa, Ont./Boston University, Hockey East) scored to make it a 3-1 game before Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ont./Quinnipiac, ECAC) added another insurance goal to seal the victory.

Menard said it was important to get off to a good start against the host team.

“First game in, it's always tough,” she said. “You're nervous, it's the first game. It's over with now and we got through it. We have a couple rookies on the team so they have it under their belts.

“It was a bit stressful for them, probably, but they played pretty well and we all stuck together.”

Canada outscored Slovakia 13-0 over a two-game series before the tournament. The Canadians spent about 10 days together at a camp last August, but had just one practice day last week before the start of exhibition play.

“Given the limited time that we've been together, I'm really happy with everybody sticking to the game plan and trying to execute what we're asking them to do,” said head coach Laura Schuler (Scarborough, Ont./University of Minnesota Duluth, WCHA).

Finland, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland are also playing at the tournament, which was previously known as the MLP Cup.

Goals/Buts : 
08:57 CAN Jillian Saulnier (M. Channell, S. Davis)
11:22 GER Bettina Evers (L. Schuster)

Penalties/Pénalités : 
12:47 GER Jessica Hammerl
14:58 CAN Jillian Saulnier

Goals/Buts : 
12:11 CAN Chelsea Karpenko (Penalty Shot)

Penalties/Pénalités :
06:33 GER Franziska Busch
14:02 CAN Jamie Lee Rattray

Goals/Buts : 
12:31 CAN Isabel Menard (S. Bram, N. Kosta)
19:34 CAN Nicole Kosta (I. Menard)

Penalties/Pénalités : 
03:34 CAN Jessica Campbell
17:00 CAN Jillian Saulnier