Hockey win out of reach for Women’s Tritons

Players from CFB Edmonton Warriors celebrate the taste of victory and bite down on their gold medals after their 4-2 win over CFB Esquimalt Tritons in the championship game of the CAF Canada West Women’s Regional Hockey Championship at Wurtele Arena on Feb. 7. Photo by Peter Mallett, Lookout.

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

CFB Edmonton Warriors captured the CAF Canada West Women’s Regional Hockey title with a late comeback win over the Esquimalt Tritons on Feb. 7 at Wurtele Arena.

Tournament host Tritons had built a 2-0 lead early in the third period of the gold medal game, backed by the solid goaltending of Cpl Katie Sawatzky who thwarted two Edmonton breakaways in the second period to preserve the lead for the hosts.

But the visitors roared back with four unanswered goals in the final 13 minutes of the third period for a 4-2 victory over their familiar rivals.

This year’s victory erases bad memories of defeats to the Tritons in previous tournaments, said Sgt Isabelle Langevin, CFB Edmonton Warrior’s centre. She earned the Valuable Player Award after helping lead the comeback charge scoring the Warriors opening goal and then an empty netter in the final seconds of play.

“They are our rivals; the past two years we played Esquimalt in the [Canada West] final and they beat us both times in overtime, so this win was true redemption for us,” she added. “This win was even sweeter because we came back from a two-goal deficit to do it.”

Major Anne Gray, a guest player from CFB Comox, opened the scoring for Esquimalt when she banged in a rebound from her own centering pass with 4:50 remaining in the first period. Capt Amanda Lauder gave Esquimalt a two-goal lead just 42 seconds into the third period after tipping a hard slap shot into the net.

But it wasn’t to be for the Tritons as Edmonton struck for two quick goals just one minute apart.  After Sgt Langevin opened the scoring, Cpl Taylor Corrigal tied the game three minutes into the third period. Cpl Laura Lighthall then scored for Edmonton with 3:53 remaining when she ripped a hard slap shot from the left faceoff circle past Cpl Sawatzky.

Sgt Langevin’s empty netter came with 46 seconds remaining to seal the game for Edmonton.

After the Tritons shook hands with their opponents and accepted their silver medals, Esquimalt coach PO1 Marc Lavoie says he and his players were disappointed with the end result but gave full marks to the Warriors for the victory.

“Nobody likes losing, but our opponents showed a lot of heart and I think this game and the championship game and the entire tournament was an excellent way to showcase the skill level of women’s hockey in the Canadian Armed Forces,” said PO1 Lavoie, who plays with the Tritons’ Old Timers team.