SASKATOON (U SPORTS) – Two first period goals was all the Concordia Stingers needed to advance to the gold medal game of the 2024 GFL U SPORTS Women’s Hockey Championship, presented by Connect Energy, after a 3-1 win over the Waterloo Warriors Saturday afternoon at Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon.
Concordia returns to the championship game for the third straight season with the win. The Stingers will face either the University of Toronto Varsity Blues or the Université de Montréal Carabins in the final Sunday at 6 p.m. Waterloo will play for bronze against the loser of the Varsity Blues-Carabins semifinal.
Stingers’ Émilie Lavoie helped open the scoring in the first period by intercepting a Waterloo pass at the defensive zone blue line. She found Zoé Thibault who snuck the puck through Warriors’ goaltender Mikayla Schnarr’s five-hole at 5:15. Concordia added their second goal of the opening period on a rush up the right side. Courtney Rice’s quick shot beat Schnarr glove side just under the crossbar to give the Stingers a 2-0 lead at 18:12.
With six seconds left in the second period, Concordia took an interference penalty and Waterloo made sure to capitalize quickly to start the third.
Warriors’ forward Elizabeth Leanardon took the puck behind Concordia’s net and passed out to Leah Herrfort. Herrfort found a wide-open Tatum James for the power play goal just 29 seconds into the final frame.
Concordia added their final goal short-handed with 1:20 left in the game. On the penalty kill after taking a body checking penalty, Stingers forward Jessymaude Drapeau was able to break loose and beat Schnarr to seal the win.
Stingers’ netminder Jordyn Verbeek made 19 stops in the win, while Schnarr made 37 in the loss for the Warriors.
Nike Team Players of the Game:
- Mikayla Schnarr - Waterloo
- Emmy Fecteau - Concordia
