U-18 Canadian Championships Open In New Brunswick, Ontario Red Begins Title Defense

The opening day of the U-18 Canadian national championships in Quispamsis, New Brunswick are in the books. Both Ontario teams won on the opening day, while Saskatchewan and British Columbia also picked up wins.

Here's a look at the first day of the national championships.

Ontario Blue Shuts Out Quebec

Dartmouth College commit Sophia Chard opened the scoring in the tournament 15:10 into the first period. Chard, a member of the Stoney Creek Sabres, took a stretch pass from defender Taylor Leemrijse, captain of Ontario Blue, before streaking in on a breakaway before beating Marilou Grenier on the backhand. In the second period, Kate Stuart and Mae Severn came in on a 2-on-1, with Severn sliding the puck to Stuart who scored Ontario Blue's second of the game. The star for Ontario Blue however, was netminder Madison Campbell. The Penn State commit who plays for the Durham West Lightning stopped all 29 shots she faced to earn a shutout for Ontario Blue.

“Our attitude on the bench was incredible today," said Kate Stuart. "Even though we had a lead, we had a few moments where we got knocked down, but we stayed positive, and the girls said and did all the right things. We were blocking shots, taking short shifts, and stayed out of the box.”

Ontario Red Begins Title Defense With Powerful Performance

Ontario Red put up a powerful performance to open their title defence from 2023 earning an 8-2 win over Alberta. In the first period, Ontario Red came out flying. Riley Sorokan dashed through the defense firing back across the flow to beat Alyssa Barrette for the 1-0 marker just 3:54 into the first. Less than a minute later Dorothy Copetti tipped home. point shot to make it 2-0, followed again less than a minute later by a Madison Burr goal on a 2-on-1 rush with Maxine Cimoroni. Cimoroni, an Ohio State commit who plays for the Mississauga Hurricanes and is captaining Ontario Red, finished the game with a goal and three assists. Defender Keira Owen scored twice for Ontario Red, while Lexie Bertelsen and Sofia Ismael also tallied. Alberta got goals from Sade Sandilands and Tayla Lamabe.

“We were working hard today for sure," said Cimeroni. "You never know what is going to happen in the first game of the event, but we have a lot of talent in our room and it’s easy to play at a high pace with this group. I’m excited to see us grow and keep getting better this week.”

Ashe Scores Overtime Winner For Saskatchewan

After a scoreless first period, Leah Wicks broke the deadlock for Team Atlantic in the second. Atlantic held the lead until 1:51 remaining in the game when Berlin Lolacher tied things for Saskatchewan. Opening overtime, Atlantic held the pressure and slipped one through Ava Drabyk on a quick whistle that was waved off. Only seconds later, Saskatchewan found open ice off the draw on an end to end 2-on-1, that Kolbee Ashe held and ripped home for the 2-1 winner for Saskatchewan.

“Coming from the prairies, we work hard and are a no quit team… we play gritty," said Lolacher. "Tonight, we showed that. We won a lot of battles and never gave up. It’s good for our team to start on a high with a win. We know every team here is good, so we have to push this one behind us and keep rolling.”

British Columbia Earns Comeback Win

Manitoba looked like they were well on their way to a win to open their 2024 national championships after Linnea Misner and Jessica Anderson gave Manitoba a 2-0 lead in the first period. As the second got underway however, British Columbia hit the ice in stride with Aurora Kahlert and Molly Cole scoring back-to-back goals in the opening four minutes of the period. At the midway point of the game, Rio Pierre scored to regain Manitoba's lead. Heading to the third period down 3-2, Molly Cole scored her second of the game to tie the game at 3-3, before Callie Rice scored the winner on the power play. Kahlert finished the game with a goal and two assist to lead British Columbia.

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