HAWKS ENTER NATIONALS AS TOP SEED

OTTAWA (CIS) - The reigning national champion Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks have been established tournament favourites for the 2006 Canadian Interuniversity Sport women's hockey championship set to get under way on Thursday at St. Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, N.S.

Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/w_hockey/2006

Laurier claimed its third consecutive OUA title on Sunday afternoon edging the Toronto Varsity Blues 2-1 in overtime in the conference final.

The Hawks captured their first CIS banner a year ago with a stunning 4-1 win over the Alberta Pandas in the gold-medal game, a victory that ended Alberta's amazing overall streak of 122 undefeated games.

Alberta was a close second when the seeding was finalized, following another extraordinary season for a program that has claimed four national titles over the past six years, including three straight from 2002-2004. The Pandas, crowned Canada West champions for the fifth consecutive campaign in 2005-06, haven't lost since dropping their regular-season opener against Regina on October 21.

The six-team CIS tournament gets under way on Thursday at 4 p.m. Atlantic Time with a Pool A round-robin match-up between defending champion Laurier and the No. 6 Dalhousie Tigers.

Note: a complete championship preview will follow on Tuesday.

Reminder: the championship press conference is scheduled for Wednesday, March 8 at noon Atlantic Time at the Keating Millennium Centre (Conference Room A).

SEEDING

1. Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks (OUA champions / 20-3-1 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
2. Alberta Pandas (Canada West champions / 16-1-3 regular season, 4-0 playoffs)
3. St. Francis Xavier X-Women (AUS champions / 17-2-2 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
4. McGill Martlets (QSSF champions / 12-2-1 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
5. Toronto Varsity Blues (OUA finalists / 12-7-3-2 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
6. Dalhousie Tigers (AUS finalists / 14-3-3-1 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)

POOLS

Pool A: Wilfrid Laurier, McGill, Dalhousie
Pool B: Alberta, StFX, Toronto

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (all times LOCAL / AT)

Wednesday, March 8

12:00 Championship press conference (Keating Millennium Centre, Conference Room A)
18:00 All-Canadian Banquet (MacKay Room, Bloomfield Centre, StFX University)

Thursday, March 9

16:00 Game #1: No. 6 Dalhousie vs. No. 1 Laurier
19:30 Game #2: No. 5 Toronto vs. No. 2 Alberta

Friday, March 10

16:00 Game #3: No. 4 McGill vs. Loser Game #1
19:30 Game #4: No. 3 StFX vs. Loser Game #2

Saturday, March 11

16:00 Game #5: No. 4 McGill vs. Winner Game #1
19:30 Game #6: No. 3 StFX vs. Winner Game #2

Sunday, March 12

10:00 5th place
13:00 Bronze medal
16:00 Championship final

- CIS -



(Photo: Laurier's Andrea Ironside skates up ice in Sunday's OUA gold medal game against the Toronto Varsity Blues. The three-time defending Ontario champion Hawks will be the top seed at nationals beginning this week in Antigonish, NS. Photo by Shawn Whiteley.)