Fourth-year goaltender Katherine Purchase recorded a 37-save shutout to lead the Concordia Stingers to a 4-0 victory over the Saskatchewan Huskies in the bronze medal game at the U SPORTS women’s hockey national championship on Sunday afternoon in London, Ont.
Less than 24 hours after a stellar performance against the Manitoba Bisons in the semifinals, Purchase had another strong showing in the bronze medal game, stopping everything sent her way.
In the three games at the championship, she played 190 minutes and had a goals-against average of 0.63 and a save percentage of .977.
"We know we’re one of the best teams here and we wanted to prove that today," said Purchase, a native of Halifax. "Our goal for today was just to play 60 minutes and show them what our kind of hockey is like."
Third-year forward Claudia Dubois of Saguenay, Que. opened and closed the scoring on Sunday afternoon. She notched the first goal of the game 39 seconds into the second period. She also delivered an empty-netter at 17:21 of the third period to make the final score 4-0. She earned player of the game honours for her efforts.
"Honestly, it's all about the team,” said Dubois. “I couldn't have done this without all the girls and the girls on my line. We just all the work together as a team, which brought us here.”
Forward Sophie Gagnon and defender Brigitte Laganière provided the other two goals for Concordia in the win.
Dubois finished the tournament with three goals and two assists for five points. Gagnon was also good for five points on four goals and one assist.
The Stingers returned to the national championship tournament after a 12-year absence last March. They finished in fourth place, losing 2-0 in the bronze medal game to the UBC Thunderbirds.
The last time Concordia secured a medal was in 2000 when the team defeated the Toronto Varsity Blues 6-0 to win a bronze medal. The Stingers were gold medallists in 1998 and 1999.
