NO. 2 HAWKS FLY PAST GEE-GEES AT CIS WOMEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

ANTIGONISH, N.S. - Lauren Barch tallied a goal and three assists and Kaley Powers scored twice as the No. 2-seeded Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks used six unanswered goals to defeat the No. 6 Ottawa Gee-Gees 6-1 in the opening game of the 2009 CIS women's hockey championship, Thursday afternoon, at St. Francis Xavier University's Keating Millennium Centre.

With the win, OUA champion Laurier (1-0) takes the early lead in Pool B, while Quebec finalist Ottawa (0-1) will need a lopsided victory against the No. 4 Moncton Aigles Bleues (0-0) Friday at 4 p.m. Atlantic in order to keep its gold-medal hopes alive.

Laurier enjoys a day off on Friday before taking on Moncton Saturday at 4 p.m. in the third and final Pool B round-robin duel.

Championship website: www.universitysport.ca/e/championships/w_hockey/2009

It looked early on as if Ottawa could pull off the upset against the perennial contender Hawks, winners of six straight OUA titles and CIS finalists three of the past four years, including a 2-0 loss to McGill in the 2008 national final and a 4-1 win over Alberta in 2005 for the lone CIS title in team history.

Rookie centre Samantha DeLenardo (Keswick, Ont.) opened the scoring just two minutes and five seconds into the contest when she beat third-year goaltender Liz Knox (Stouffville, Ont.) with a wrist shot from the left circle to give the Gee-Gees a 1-0 lead they would take well into the second period.

Still down by one past the midway point of the middle stanza despite a decisive advantage in shots on net, the Hawks finally broke the ice – and broke the game wide open - with three goals before the second break.

Powers, a sophomore forward from Kingston, Ont., got things going at the 12:30-mark when she converted a two-on-none, finally getting the puck past fifth-year netminder Jessika Audet (Chatham, N.B.) on Laurier's 18th shot of the game.

Heather Fortuna (Kitchener, Ont.), also a sophomore forward, doubled the Hawks lead three minutes later during a power play, and Powers gave Laurier all the confidence it needed going into the third period scoring her second of the day with 36 seconds left before the horn, forcing the puck past Audet from the goalmouth.

The Hawks had outshot their rivals 25-10 after 40 minutes, including a 15-4 advantage in the second frame.

"I wasn't a happy camper at the end of the first period," said Laurier head coach Rick Osborne. "We needed to do something early in the second to get the momentum changed."

Any hopes of an Ottawa comeback evaporated 6:11 into the third when second-team all-Canadian forward Andrea Ironside (Collingwood, Ont.) made it a 4-1 affair with a snapshot of a partial breakaway.

Third-year defender Stephanie Crarey made it 5-1 during a power play at the 10:12 mark, and Barch rounded out the scoring with 2:17 remaining on the clock.

"I think scoring that many goals in the first game is a big confidence boost for our team," Powers said.

The Hawks peppered Audet with 17 more shots in the third for a final count of 42-14.

Knox recovered nicely from the shaky start to pick up the victory in the Hawks' net.

"Kind of like a flat tire," said Ottawa head coach Shelley Coolidge. "No answers right now on how that sorted itself out."

"There was no reason to expect we wouldn't show up in the second," said Audet, who stopped all 10 shots she faced in the opening period, including a firm poke check off a partial breakaway 12 minutes into the match. "I wish I could explain it."

Barch, a fourth-year centre from Burlington, Ont., who was the OUA MVP a year ago and finished second on the team in scoring this season with 32 points, was named the Laurier player of the game following her four-point effort.

Game-MVP honours for Ottawa went to centre Kayla Hottot (Sombra, Ont.), who picked up an assist on the Gee-Gees lone goal.

Laurier went 2-for-5 on the power play, while Ottawa was blanked in two opportunities.

SCORING SUMMARY

Wilfrid Laurier 6, Ottawa 1

FIRST PERIOD
SCORING:
1. OTT Samantha DeLenardo (1) (Kayla Hottot, Brittany Jones), 2:05
PENALTIES:
Joyce Spruyt (OTT) hooking; 2:55; Stephanie Crarey (WLU) tripping, 16:00

SECOND PERIOD
SCORING:
2. WLU Kaley Powers (1) (Lauren Barch), 12:30
3. WLU Heather Fortuna (1) (Caitlin Muirhead), 15:27
4. WLU Kaley Powers (2) (Lauren BArch, Daniela De Felice), 19:24
PENALTIES:
Fannie Desforges (OTT) boarding, 13:40; Alison Williams (WLU), 15:50

THIRD PERIOD
SCORING:
5. WLU Andrea Ironside (1) (Kate Psota), 6:11
6. WLU Stephanie Crarey (1) (Lauren Barch, Vanessa Bennett), 10:12
7. WLU Lauren Barch (1) (Andrea Ironside), 17:43
PENALTIES:
Taryn Brown (OTT) hooking, 1:40; Fannie Desforges (OTT) hooking, 9:18; Taryn Brown (OTT) holding the stick, 14:37

GOALS (by period)
OTT: 1-0-0:1
WLU: 0-3-3:6

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
OTT: 6-4-4:14
WLU: 10-15-17:42

POWER PLAY:
OTT: 0-2
WLU: 2-5

GOALTENDERS
OTT – Jessica Audet (L, 0-1, 42 shots, 36 saves, 60:00)
WLU – Aaron Sorochan (W, 1-0, 14 shots, 13 saves, 60:00)

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:
OTT: Kayla Hottot
WLU: Lauren Barch

REFEREE: Mary Anne Gage

LINES: Brittany O'Neill, Amy Facey

ATTENDANCE: 650

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (All times LOCAL: Atlantic Time)

Pool A
1. McGill
3. Manitoba
5. StFX

Pool B
2. Wilfrid Laurier
4. Moncton
6. Ottawa

Thursday, March 19
16:00 Pool B #1: No. 2 Wilfrid Laurier vs. No. 6 Ottawa (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #1: No. 1 McGill vs. No. 3 Manitoba (SSN Canada webcast)

Friday, March 20
16:00 Pool B #2: No. 4 Moncton vs. Loser Pool B #1 (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #2: No. 5 StFX vs. Loser Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast)

Saturday, March 21
16:00 Pool B #3: No. 4 Moncton vs. Winner Pool B #1 (SSN Canada webcast)
19:30 Pool A #3: No. 5 StFX vs. Winner Pool A #1 (SSN Canada webcast)

Sunday, March 22
10:00 5th Place (SSN Canada webcast)
14:00 Bronze (SSN Canada webcast)
20:00 Final (THE SCORE * / SSN Canada webcast)

* 2-hour tape delay to 10 pm Atlantic / 9 pm Eastern

Source: CIS Communications