U SPORTS – ALMATY, Kazakhstan (U SPORTS) – For the second game in a row, the Canadian women’s hockey team proved much too strong for its overwhelmed opponent at the 28th Winter Universiade as the U SPORTS all-stars improved to 2-0 thanks to a 14-0 domination of Great Britain, Monday afternoon.

Team Canada website: http://en.usports.ca/universiade/winter/2017/
Almaty 2017 website: https://almaty2017.com
Live streaming: www.livefisu.tv/  
Results, Statistics & Standings: http://www.fisu.net/results/winter-universiade/winter-universiade-2017-main-results

It took the Canadians three minutes and 54 seconds to break the ice – due in part to an early penalty at the 1:41 mark – but they more than made up for it with eight goals on 37 shots before the first intermission.

One stat best resumes Team Canada’s domination: In her first start of the Games, netminder Stephanie Sluys of Clinton, Ont., didn’t have to register a single save to earn her first Universiade victory as her teammates outshot their inexperienced rivals by an extraordinary 77-0 margin.

In their tournament opener on Saturday, the U SPORTS standouts had outshot China 55-5 on their way to a 9-1 win.

University of Montreal teammates Maude Laramée (2-3-5) of Gatineau, Que., and Alexandra Labelle (2-2-4) of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., collected five and four points against the British, respectively, while the University of Ottawa’s Mélodie Bouchard of Sept-Îles, Que., had a hat-trick to follow-up on her four-point performance versus China (2-2-4).

Alexis Larson (1-2-3) and Alanna Sharman (0-3-3) also racked up three points, while Jessica Cormier found the back of the net twice.

“We’re definitely happy with the result, obviously. It’s always nice to get a win. It’s good for the confidence, we get to know each other more in the offensive end,” said Larson, a rearguard from Weyburn, Sask. “Regardless of the score, it’s an honour any time you get to put on the Canadian jersey.”

“In a game like this, you try to work on your systems. We have to keep in mind we have a new group together at these Games,” said head coach Rachel Flanagan from the University of Guelph. “It was an opportunity to work on our own game. It’s about sticking to our game plan and execute well on special teams.”

Canada went 4-for-9 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 marker, and was perfect on three penalty killing situations.

Before leaving the ice at the end of the game, the British squad skated around the ice to a standing ovation from the crowd.

No team members deserved more applause than goaltenders Samantha Bolwell and Holly Steeples, who were peppered with 44 and 33 shots, respectively.

Team Canada, which had won the first three FISU Games women’s hockey tournaments (2009, 2011, 2013) before settling for silver two years ago in Spain, wraps up pool play Wednesday at 8 p.m. local time (9 a.m. EST) against host Kazakhstan (1-1).

TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local / 11 hours ahead of ET)

Group standings: STANDINGS

Saturday, Jan. 28 (16:30): Canada 9, China 1
Monday, Jan. 30 (16:30): Canada 14, Great Britain 0
Wednesday, Feb. 1 (20:00): Canada vs. Kazakhstan
Saturday, Feb. 4 (TBD): Semi-finals
Monday, Feb. 6 (16:30): Bronze  
Monday, Feb. 6 (20:00): Final

SCORING SUMMARY (official boxscore: CLICK HERE)

Canada 14, Great Britain 0

FIRST PERIOD

SCORING:

1. CAN Katherine Bailey (2) (unassisted), 3:54
2. CAN Alexis Larson (1) (Kelly Murray), 4:41
3. CAN Alexandra Labelle (2) (unassisted), 7:50
4. CAN Maude Laramée (1) (Kelly Gribbons, Erica Rieder), 12:46 PP
5. CAN Mélodie Bouchard (3) (Alanna Sharman, Kaitlin Willoughby), 14:07
6. CAN Alexandra Poznikoff (1) (Maude Laramée, Jaycee Magwood), 16:09
7. CAN Jessica Cormier (1) (Catherine Dubois, Alexis Larson), 18:42
8. CAN Maude Laramée (2) (Alexandra Poznikoff), 19:31

PENALTIES:

Maude Laramée (CAN) illegal hit, 1:41
Lucy Lickman (GBR) tripping, 12:29

SECOND PERIOD

SCORING:

9. CAN Jaycee Magwood (2) (Kylie Gavelin, Maude Laramée), 7:06 PP
10. CAN Mélodie Bouchard (4) (Alanna Sharman, Kelly Murray), 8:22
11. CAN Mélodie Bouchard (5) (Kaitlin Willoughby, Alanna Sharman), 11:18
12. CAN Brianna Iazzolino (1) (Alexandra Labelle), 12:48 PP
13. CAN Jessica Cormier (2) (Alexandra Labelle, Maude Laramée), 19:08

PENALTIES:

Daley Oddy (CAN) interference, 4:01
Hannah Worthington (GBR) illegal hit, 5:41
Megan Rathbone (GBR) tripping, 12:12
Sarah Hutchinson (GBR) illegal hit, 16:04
Team (GBR) delay of game (served by Danielle Turnbull), 19:08

THIRD PERIOD

SCORING:

14. CAN Alexandra Labelle (3) (Alexis Larson, Brianna Iazzolino), 10:35 PP2

PENALTIES:

Abbie Thornton (GBR) hooking, 3:16
Hannah Worthington (GBR) hooking, 9:19
Sarah Hutchinson (GBR) tripping, 9:19
Brianna Iazzolino (CAN) slashing, 13:02
Hannah Worthington (GBR) illegal hit, 18:01

GOALS (by period)
CAN: 8-5-1: 14
GBR: 0-0-0: 0

SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 37-20-20: 77
GBR: 0-0-0: 0

POWER PLAY:
CAN: 4-9
GBR: 0-3

GOALTENDERS
CAN – Stephanie Sluys (W, 1-0, 0 shot, 0 save, 60:00)
GBR – Samantha Bolwell (L, 0-2, 44 shots, 34 saves, 28:35)
GBR – Holly Steeples (33 shots, 29 saves, 31:25)

REFEREES: Evy Bergecliff (SWE), Maria Raabye Fuchsel (DEN)

LINESMEN: Yue Fu (CHN), Oksana Shestakova (KAZ)

ATTENDANCE: –

START: 16:30
END: 18:49
LENGTH: 2:19

About the Winter Universiade
 
The Winter Universiade is a biennial international multi-sport event open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

The Almaty Universiade will feature eight compulsory sports and four optional sports. Compulsory sports: alpine skiing, biathlon, ice hockey, curling, cross country skiing, short track speed skating, figure skating and snowboarding. Optional sports: ski jumping, nordic combined, freestyle skiing and long-track speed skating.

About U SPORTS

U SPORTS is the national brand for University Sports in Canada. Every year, over 12,000 student-athletes and 500 coaches from 56 universities vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. U SPORTS also provides higher performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit usports.ca or follow us on:

Twitter: @USPORTSca / @USPORTSIntl
Facebook: @USPORTSCanada / @USPORTSIntl
YouTube: @USPORTSca
Instagram: @USPORTSca
Snapchat: @USPORTSca

-U SPORTS-

For more information:

Michel Bélanger
Communications Manager
Team Canada
Cell in Almaty: (+) 774 7619 2403
belanger@usports.ca

Ken Saint-Eloy
Manager, Communications
U SPORTS
Cell: 647-871-7595
ksainteloy@usports.ca