Winter Universiade: Canada goes for golden revenge against Russia today at 2:30pm ET

GRANADA, Spain (CIS) – Canada’s women’s hockey team will shoot for its fourth gold medal in as many Winter Universiade tournaments later today, but will do so against the only team to have ever beaten them in FISU competition, Russia.

Winter Universiade: Canada goes for golden revenge against Russia today at 2:30pm ET
February 12, 2015

GRANADA, Spain (CIS) – Canada's women's hockey team will shoot for its fourth gold medal in as many Winter Universiade tournaments later today, but will do so against the only team to have ever beaten them in FISU competition, Russia.

The game can be watched live at 2:30 p.m. EST (8:30 p.m. local time) at http://www.livefisu.tv/

The contest will be a rematch of last Sunday's Pool B finale where Russia (3-0) prevailed 3-1 to hand Canada (2-1) its first-ever Universiade loss in women's hockey, and also of the 2013 final in Trentino, Italy, where the Canucks scored a convincing 5-0 win.

The Red and White is 23-1 overall since women's hockey made its FISU Games debut in 2009.

Canada advanced to the gold medal final thanks to a 5-2 victory over Japan (3-1) in Wednesday's semifinal. Alternate captain Morgan McHaffie (Guelph, Ont.) of the Queen's University Gaels notched a pair of goals in the victory and has a team-leading three goals in three games heading into the final.

Also scoring for Canada were defenceman Julie Flinton (Williams Lake, B.C.) of the University of Saskatchewan, StFX forward Alex Normore (Bedford, N.S) and University of Alberta forward Tess Houston (Winnipeg), who picked up the game-winner by scoring on a shorthanded breakaway.

The Russians, however, are bolstered by an offence that counts four of the top five Universiade scoring leaders among its ranks, including CIS leading scorer Iya Gavrilova of the University of Calgary, who has 10 points in three games. Gavrilova is one of eight Olympians on the Russian roster.

NOTES: In previous Universiade gold medal finals, the Canadians defeated China 3-1 (2009), Finland 4-1 (2011) and Russia 5-0 (2013)... Four members of the 2015 team return from the 2013 championship squad, including goaltender Élodie Rousseau-Sirois from the University of Montreal, defenceman Brittney Fouracres from McGill, as well as forwards Laura Brooker from Wilfrid Laurier and Alex Normore from StFX.

Source: CIS