Winter Universiade: Canada resumes domination, beats Great Britain 13-0

TRENTINO, Italy (CIS) – Led once again by Gabrielle Davidson from McGill University, the Canadian women’s hockey team resumed its domination at the 26^th Winter Universiade on Friday afternoon, improving to 3-0 at the biennial tournament with a convincing 13-0 victory over Great Britain.
 
After three of five preliminary contests, the reigning two-time FISU champions have outscored their opponents 39-0. They opened their title defence on Tuesday with a resounding 21-0 win against Spain and followed up with a comfortable 5-0 shutout versus Russia on Thursday.
 
The CIS all-star squad has also outshot its rivals 230 to 13 since the start of the competition, including an 80-2 advantage against Spain, 56-10 over Russia and a mind-boggling 94-1 today against the British team.
 
Davidson once again paced the offence in Game 3 with a hat-trick and a pair of helpers. The super sophomore from Pte. Claire, Que., who leads CIS at the December break with 15 goals in only 10 league games, has already racked up 12 points (8-4-12) in three contests in Trentino, including a six-point effort in Tuesday’s opener (4-2-6). 
 
Cara Wooster, a University of Saskatchewan graduate who hails from Luseland, Sask., chipped in with two goals and two helpers, while UBC’s Tatiana Rafter (2-1-3), Calgary’s Jenna Smith (2-1-3), Guelph’s Amanda Parkins (2-1-3) and McGill’s Brittney Fouracres (0-3-3) tallied three points apiece.
 
Rounding out the scoring with singles were team captain Kim Deschênes of the reigning CIS champion Montreal Carabins, Jessica Pinkerton of Guelph and Alex Normore of StFX.
 
Following a 10-save shutout against Russia, Western goaltender Kelly Campbell earned a second straight start in front of the Canadian net and only had to stop one shot to register the whitewash.
 
At the other end of the ice, British netminder Nicole Jackson stood on her head in a losing effort turning aside 81 pucks, including 35 in the opening period as she held Canada to a single goal in the first 17 minutes and three going into the intermission.
 
“Once again, I felt like this was a step forward for our group,” said Team Canada head coach Howie Draper, from the University of Alberta. “We continue to move the puck better, we moved our feet better, our net presence was better - it was fun. We made some change because Great Britain played well defensively and have a good goalie, but our team adjusted quickly, which was good and makes it easy.  It’s a pleasure to coach this group.”
 
After three goals in the first period and four in the second, the Canadians seemed to get stronger as the game went on, scoring six in the final frame to sink their gritty opponents.
 
Parkins, a native of Kitchener, Ont., opened the scoring 6:23 into the affair with her third of the tourney. She would be in on each of the three goals in the first, scoring again later in the period after assisting on a Rafter tally.
 
The Red and White then put the game in cruise control in the second with four goals in a span of 5:17. Davidson notched her sixth of the Games, followed by Normore, Wooster and Pinkerton.
 
In the third frame, Deschênes, who also captains the Carabins and is the only returning member from the 2011 Universiade gold-winning team, notched her first of the 2013 tournament at the 1:26 mark.
 
Smith and Davidson, with a pair each, and Rafter, with her second of the game, also found the back of the net before the final buzzer.
 
Canada gets back on the ice Sunday at 2 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Trentino) against the United States (2-0). The Americans defeated the Russians 4-2 in their first game and then barely got by the Brits, 2-1. They face Japan (2-0) later on Friday in a battle of undefeated teams.

Source: CIS