2008-09 National Women's Under-18 Team

DEFENCE PROVIDES OFFENSE AS CANADA RED STAYS UNBEATEN WITH WIN OVER JAPAN

Looking for offense in a scoreless game, Canada Red turned to its blueline as the Canadians stayed undefeated at the National Women’s Under-18 Team selection camp with a 3-1 win over Japan on Wednesday night in Calgary.

Saige Pacholok (Edmonton, AB) and Laura Fortino (Hamilton, ON) scored goals in the final seven-and-a-half minutes of the second period to break open a scoreless tie as Canada Red improved to 2-0 at the week-long camp, while dropping the Japanese to 0-2.

After Azusa Nakaoku shut down the Canada White offense in a 3-2 overtime loss one night earlier, Japan turned to Nana Fujimoto for Wednesday night’s game, and Fujimoto responded with a 31-save performance, keeping the team from the Far East within striking distance for much of the game.

Although they held a massive 15-4 advantage in shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes, Canada Red entered the first intermission without a goal, mainly due to the play of Fujimoto, who always seemed to be in position to turn away a Canadian scoring opportunity.

The run of bad luck continued for Canada Red through the opening half of the second period, before Pacholok’s point shot found its way through a Brianne Jenner (Oakville, ON) screen and over the shoulder of Fujimoto for the game’s opening goal.

The defence stepped up again very late in the middle frame, as Fortino finished off a beautiful give-and-go with Casandra Langan (Chatham, ON) to push the Canada Red lead to 2-0 with just six seconds remaining on the clock.

Jillian Saulnier (Halifax, NS), who started the play along the boards, picked up the second assist on Fortino’s first goal of camp.

Langan and Saulnier combined again for Canada Red’s third goal, helping set up Laurie Kingsbury (Valleyfield, QC) on a powerplay just shy of the midway point of the final frame to run the Canadian lead to three.

Haruka Takashima ruined the shutout bid of Canada Red goaltender Jenesica Drinkwater (Brantford, ON) by banking a centering pass off the skate of the Canadian netminder with just over six minutes to go, but that would be the only shot to beat Drinkwater.

Canada Red’s win keep them in top spot with six points (a win is worth three points), four ahead of Canada White, who sit in second spot with two points after Tuesday night’s overtime victory over Japan.

The two Canadian teams will meet Thursday night (7:00 p.m. MT) in a rematch of Monday night’s camp opener, won 5-2 by Canada Red.

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Final

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Goals/Buts :
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Penalties/Pénalités :
RED – Jessica Campbell (Tripping) 3:06
RED – Danielle Skirrow (Interference) 5:17
JPN – Yoki Ohtani (Holding) 13:59

Goals/Buts :
RED – Saige Pacholok (Jessica Campbell) 12:35
RED – Laura Fortino (Casandra Langan, Jillian Saulnier) 19:54

Penalties/Pénalités :
JPN – Tomomi Iwahara (Body Contact) 1:36
RED – Brittany Phillips (Holding) 5:52
JPN – Mai Takahashi (Hooking) 9:34

Goals/Buts :
RED – Laurie Kingsbury (Casandra Langan, Jillian Saulnier) 8:37 PP
JPN – Haruka Takashima 13:41

Penalties/Pénalités :
JPN – Haruka Takashima (Body Contact) 8:20
RED – Katie Wilson (Hooking) 11:41
JPN – Emi Nonaka (Body Contact) 16:49
RED – Jenesica Drinkwater (Slashing) 19:40