Boston Blades - Clarkson Cup Champions 2015

The Boston Blades edged the Montreal Stars 3-2 in overtime Saturday at Centennial Arena to win the 2015 Clarkson Cup, their second Canadian Women’s Hockey League championship in three years.

Forward Janine Weber (Innsbruck, Austria) scored the game-winner at 2:12 in the extra frame, on assists fromCorinne Buie (Edina, Minn.) and Tara Watchorn (Newcastle, Ont.).

Montreal opened the scoring on a goal from Ann-Sophie Bettez (Sept-Iles, Que.) just 31 seconds into the first to give the Stars an early lead, but Hilary Knight (San Francisco, Calif.) tied it up on a power play before the period was done.

Following a scoreless second period, Boston’s Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wisc.) and Montreal’s Emannuelle Blais (Lasalle, Que.) traded goals, Decker on the power play, to tie up again and send it into overtime.

Blais also added an assist for the Stars, while Decker and Knight had helpers for the Blades. Caroline Ouellette(Montreal, Que.) notched two assists for Montreal. Charline Labonté turned away 25 shots for the Stars, whileGenevieve Lacasse (Kingston, Ont.) made 13 saves for the Blades.

Labonté was named most valuable player and top goaltender of the 2015 Clarkson Cup, while Boston’sMonique Lamoureux received best defenceman honours and Decker earned top forward accolades.

The 2015 Clarkson Cup was the seventh annual CWHL championship tournament presented by Scotiabank and in partnership with the City of Markham. The Boston Blades won their first-ever Clarkson Cup two years ago, when they beat the Montreal Stars 5-2 in the very same venue.

The format of the Clarkson Cup changed this year, with the first-place Boston Blades facing off against the fourth-place Toronto Furies, and the second-place Montreal Stars taking on the third-place Calgary Inferno, in two separate best-of-three playoff series.

Original article from http://www.cwhl.ca/