La Citadel Patriotes claim Franco Tourney
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The sixteenth Franco-Ontarian Girls Hockey Tournament wrapped up Wednesday with Cornwall's La Citadel Patriotes defeating École Secondaire Catholique Embrum 3-1 to win the large school championship.
In the medium school final, École Secondaire Catholique Franco-Cité beat École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier, while École secondaire Le Caron won over École Catholique Georges-Vanier in the small school championship.
The tournament, which was the focal point of a three-day celebration of the Franco-Ontarian culture, saw 21 schools from across the province taking to the ice to determine who was the best at Canada's game. This was the second time that Ecole Jeanne-Lajoie has hosted the prestigious tournament. The closing games staged in Pembroke and Petawawa did not disappoint.
In an exciting finish to the large school round robin class, La Citadel secured an early lead over the École Secondaire Catholique Embrum Cyclones in the first period at CFB Petawawa's Silver Dart Arena. Gabrielle Belanger took a shot through traffic to beat Embrum's netminder. She was assisted by Myriam Lefebvre.
The Patriotes built some momentum when Bianca Lemire fired a bullet from the point, assisted by Jenna Merpaw and Alexandra Cameron. When the second period opened Merpaw scored, thanks to a smooth pass from Summer Graveley. However, the Cyclones got back into the game when Natasza Tarnowski caught Cornwall netminder Stephanie Seguin far out of the crease and tapped the puck into an empty net. Picking up the helpers were Melissa Grégoire and Mélissa Bergeron. That would end the scoring, however, handing the championship banner to Cornwall.
In the small school championship final, Les Dragons de Le Caron took an insurmountable lead over the Georges-Vanier Lynx after both teams failed to score in the opening period. The Dragons' Chanelle Proulx ripped the puck over the shoulder of Lynx goalie Roxanne Dubé. Picking up the assists were Suzanne Kennedy and Emily Einbergs.
Kennedy then scored the next two goals, with Natasha King getting one assist. The fourth goal was added by Hannah McDowell, with assists going to Natalie Bramwell and King. It wasn't until the third period when Meagan Frenette, taking a pass from Kelsey Boivin, solved Dragons' netminder Kelsey Robillard. However, Les Dragons held on for the 4-1 win.
During the medium school championship at the Pembroke Memorial Centre, Franco-Cité posted three straight goals in the first period. Scoring was Jeanne Boutin, Corie Jacobson and Jennifer Landry. Assists went to Mackenzie Gauthier and Jessica Pellerin. Macdonald-Cartier fought back in the third period with Brittany Rouleau, assisted by Stephanie Legault, scoring. Adding an empty net to bring the final tally to 4-1 was Gauthier.
Earlier in the day, Jeanne-Lajoie fell to Sacré-Coeur 7-2 in the divisional final. Chantal Lariviere scored the only goals for the Chevaliers.
Sean Chase is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist