Université de Montréal Carabins CIS Women's Hockey Champions 2016

Team Roster

Alexandra Paradis, Audrey Gariepy, Claudianne Delorme, Alexandra Labelle, Rika Pilon-Robert, Kim Poirier, Jessica Cormier, Cloé Barrette, Laurie Mercier, Catherine Dubois, Marie-Pier Chabot, Marion Allemoz, Casandra Dupuis, Maude Gélinas, Maude Laramée, Emmanuelle Passard, Lore Baudrit, Ariane Barker, Laurence Beaulieu and Valerie Bourdon, Sara-Maude Pileggi, Valerie St-Onge, Katherine Richard, Fanny Vigeant, Élodie Rousseau Sirois

Head Coach - Isabelle Leclaire

Canadian Interuniversity Sport

The University of Montreal Carabins dominated the University of British Columbia Thnderbirds in an 8-0 victory to win the 2016 CIS National Championships on Sunday, March 20 in Calgary, Alberta.

After a 3-2 victory in their semi-final against Saint Mary's, the Montreal Carabins weren't taking any chances in the final as their power house offence capitalized on 8 of 18 shots and went 4 for 4 on the power play. This is the second CIS gold medal in the Carabins' history, also winning in 2013. They finished with a bronze medal at the 2015 Championship.

"It feels amazing, this is what we've been dreaming of," said Montreal head coach, Isabelle Leclaire. "We had a good balance of experience players and very talented youth. They worked relentlessly, it's not about how you start the season it's about the process and how you finish that's important."

Despite the disappointing finish in today's final, the T-Birds made history for their organization today. Competing in only their second CIS National Championship, the silver medal for UBC is the best result in UBC women's hockey history. They finished fifth in their first Nationals appearance in 2013.

"It's unbelievable to represent the University to the best finish ever, I think it's huge for our program," said T-Birds' head coach, Graham Thomas. "We learned from our last Nationals, this time around we improved. I think we gained some respect, we showed that we're here to stay and we have a really solid program. It was a really big day for us despite the outcome and the score."

Montreal was led by rookie forward Alexandra Labelle, who recorded three goals and an assist in her team's victory. The Carabins had five other goal scorers, Alexandra Paradis, EmanuellePassard, Ariane Barker, Maude Laramee, and Casandra Dupuis.

Forward Jessica Cormier collected four helpers on the Carabins' eight goals. Paradisand Laramee both had three point games, with a goal and two assists, respectively.

In her first season as a starting goaltender, Marie-Pier Chabot had her second shutout performance, earning herself the Tournament MVP Award.

"She was amazing this season," said Leclaire. "She learned a lot from our fifth year goaltender, Elodie Rousseau-Sirois. I think Rousseau-Sirois really pushed her and in the end, Chabot surpassed her in a way and got the starting spot. Chabot was important all through the series."

The Carabins opened the scoring at the 13 minute mark of the first period when Labelle buried a rebound on the power play. A point shot from Paradis beat Dube five-hole to make it 2-0 after after 20 minutes.

Montreal kept coming in the middle frame with goals from Passard, Labelle and Maude Gelinas. The T-Birds changed goaltenders after the fifth goal, with Langford replacing Dube who allowed five goals on ten shots.

Labelle completed a hat trick at 11:01 of the third period with a deceptive shot that beat Langford five-hole.Maude Laramee and Casandra Dupuis both found the back of the net in the third to complete the 8-0 victory.

"I think all the credit goes to Montreal," explained Thomas. "They capitalized on their power plays and the opportunities that they had. That pushed us back on our heels right away, they didn't have a lot of shots or pressure in our zone early in the game, but they were very opportunistic. The bounces weren't going our way, it just wasn't meant to be in that sense, but Montreal played a fantastic game."

Kathleen Cahoon received the Player of the Game award for UBC. Chabot earned the award for the Carabins with her 23 save shutout.

Original Article from http://english.cis-sic.ca