The Varsity Blues’ women’s hockey finished their 2012–2013 season this weekend with a fourth place finish in the CIS (Canadian Intercollegiate Sport) championship. The season was a long one, starting with exhibition games in September, and ending almost exactly six months later with their loss to St. FX on Sunday.
In the regular season, the Blues put up a 15–8–3 record, placing fifth overall in the 11 team OUA (Ontario University Athletics). The Blues fell in the quarter-finals of the oua championship series to the Western Mustangs, who then fell to the Queen’s Gaels, who competed as the Ontario champions at this weekend’s CIS championship.
Prior to the winter break, the Blues posted a record of 9–8 as they struggled in their conference. The Blues needed to make changes if they hoped to play as a top team during the rest of the season and the playoffs.
Before the second semester’s classes started, the Blues competed in the Waterloo tournament, posting a record of 2–1, winning two shutout games, and losing to the Mustangs in a 2–0 shutout.
In the second half of the season, the Blues posted a better record, 6–3, with four games ending in a shootout, and one game ending in overtime. This led them into the playoffs with hope of coming out with a good record, showing that they deserve to compete in the national championship.
However, in the playoffs the Blues’ hope of coming into the cis championship as oua champions fell as they lost both of their games to the Mustangs, their knockout game ending in an emotional triple overtime, resulting in a 4–3 loss for the Blues.
After the disappointment of the oua playoffs, the Blues had nearly a month to rest, practice, and prepare for the cis championship being held on home ice. They came into the tournament ranked sixth of six, with the attitude of just coming in excited to have the opportunity to play in this tournament.
“We’re just excited,” said Vicky Sunohara. “We really wanted to get into the national championships by winning the oua championships. We really wanted to have a better playoff run, but it is what it is, and we lost out in the first round, but we do have this opportunity. We realize that, and we don’t have any pressure on us.”
The Blues proved that they deserve to compete in the national championship, putting up a fight against their opponents for each game of the tournament.
The team’s captain, Kelly O’Hanlon had the most points on the team with 27 — 12 goals and 15 assists. Behind her was rookie Taylor Day who has had a huge impact on the team. She finished the season with 19 points, with eight goals and 11 assists. Goalies Nicole Kesteris and Krista Funke split their time in net equally. Kesteris had an amazing 438 saves on the season with a .916 save percentage, and Funk had 330 saves with a save percentage of .938. Kesteris was in net for all three games.
“We were pretty happy with our season,” said Sunohara before the weekend’s tournament began. “We didn’t have the playoff run we would have liked, but luckily we have this opportunity in hosting the championships. We didn’t want to get in just for hosting, but the reality is that we’re here, and it’s a national championship.”
“It comes down to one game at a time. I think we’re all believing that it’s a weekend whereanything can happen, and we’re ready to play.
