It’s playoff time at the Esso Cup Canadian Women’s U18 Club Hockey Championship tournament at Kal Tire Place in Vernon.
The host Thompson Okanagan Lakers secured their spot in the final four, winning their final preliminary game Thursday, April 25, 2-1 in a shootout over the Quebec champion L’Intrépide de l’Outaouais.
The Lakers finished third in the six-team round-robin with a record of two wins, one overtime win, and two losses for eight points. They will face the second-place Regina Rebels (3 wins, 2 overtime losses, 11 points) in a semifinal today, Friday, at 7 p.m.
The Rebels defeated Thompson-Okanagan 6-2 in round-robin play Wednesday, and completed the preliminary round Thursday with a 4-3 victory over the Atlantic champion Northern Subway Selects of Nova Scotia (1 win, 1 OT win, 3 losses, 5 points).
Pacific champion Edmonton Jr. Oilers finished atop the standings with 11 points (3 wins, 1 OT win, 1 loss), thanks to a 2-1 OT win over Regina in the round-robin.
The Jr. Oilers will face Ontario’s North York Storm (2 wins, 2 losses, 1 OT loss, 6 points) in the other semifinal Friday at 3 p.m. It’s a rematch of both teams’ final round-robin match Thursday, won 4-1 by Edmonton.
The two losers will play for bronze Saturday, April 27, at 12 p.m., while the two winners will meet in the national championship final Saturday at 4 p.m.
Maya de Beaumont opened the scoring at 5:57 of the second period for L’Intrépide against Thompson Okanagan. The goal held up until Emma Kohl of Fruitvale tied the game for the Lakers at 14:44 of the third period, assisted by Alexandra Recsky of Kelowna.
Penticton’s Amy Polvere – the sixth shooter for the Lakers – scored the only goal in the shootout while Kelowna goalie Reese Sliskovic preserved the win with a stop on Quebec’s Mégane Cronier.
Sliskovic finished with a stellar 52 saves to earn Player of the Game honours while L’Intrépide’s Noémie Germain made 21 saves for the Quebec champs, who finished sixth with 1 win, 3 losses and 1 OT loss for four points.
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