By Canadian Press

U Sports Roundup: Gryphons beat Martlets for first national women’s hockey title

Mar 19, 2019 | 9:17 PM

CHARLOTTETOWN — The Guelph Gryphons have earned their first women’s hockey national title in school history.

Valerie Lamenta stopped all 20 shots she faced as Guelph held on to beat the McGill Martlets 1-0 on Sunday in the U Sports final.

Kaitlin Lowy gave the Gryphons all the offence they needed at 18:15 of the second period, with Lamenta making 10 of her saves in the third period to preserve the championship.

“I pretty much blacked out,” Lowy said of her goal. “I haven’t had time to digest the magnitude of this, but right now I’m just really proud of this team and we’re honoured to be part of a historical championship.”

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Lamenta was named tournament all-star.

“It’s been an amazing five years at Guelph,” said Lamenta. “But this is really a dream come true being able to say this is my last game in a Guelph Gryphons jersey.”

Tricia Deguire turned away 20-of-21 shots for McGill.

Earlier, the Montreal Carabins pulled off the upset with a 2-1 victory over the top-ranked Alberta Pandas to win the bronze medal.

Kelly-Ann Nadeau and Alexandra Boulanger scored in the second period for Montreal as Aube Racine made 23 saves for the win.

“Everybody in that room wanted to work for the other person next to them and I think that made the difference,” said team Carabins captain Valerie St-Onge. “It’s a first experience for a lot of them, and to win a medal at nationals is just overwhelming.”

Kennedy Ganser was the lone scorer for Alberta. Kirsten Chamberlin stopped 11-of-13 shots in defeat.

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MEN’S HOCKEY

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — Alex Dubeau made 32 saves as the University of New Brunswick Reds doubled up the Alberta Golden Bears 4-2 on Sunday to capture the U Sports men’s hockey championship.

Samuel Dove-McFalls, Oliver Cooper, Kris Bennett and Mark Rassell supplied the offence for New Brunswick, which earned its eighth national title in program history. 

Steve Owre and Brandon Magee hit the scoresheet for Alberta, the defending U Sport champions.

Zach Sawchenko stopped 27 shots in defeat.

Every men’s title dating back seven years has been won by either the Reds or Golden Bears. UNB also won in 2013, 2016 and 2017, with the Golden Bears claiming the University Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2018.

Earlier in the day, Chase Marchand made 48 saves and Adam Holwell struck twice as the St. Francis Xavier X-Men beat the Saskatchewan Huskies 5-1 to claim bronze.

Matt Needham, Matthew Graham and Cole MacDonald also scored for St.FX.

“It’s a tough game to play and challenging for the guys. But it speaks to the character of this group, they cared a lot about this game and they wanted to win this game and I think that showed this afternoon,” said St.FX head coach Brad Peddle. 

Parker Thomas found the back of the net for Saskatchewan. Travis Child turned away 11-of-16 shots in a losing cause.

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WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

EDMONTON — The UBC Thunderbirds erased a 2-0 deficit by winning three straight sets against the Ryerson Rams to capture the U Sports women’s volleyball championship on Sunday.

Kiera Van Ryke had 24 kills and Tessa Davis added 15 as UBC took the match 14-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-11.

“I’m just so grateful that we were able to hang around and demonstrate our perseverance through tough situations,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer.

“No matter how long you’ve been doing this, every match is going to bring fresh challenges and this brought a whole lot of them. Ryerson was playing tremendously for two sets and we were completely back on our heels. Lots of things we did were good, but it wasn’t nearly enough so it was the patience and perseverance to keep going.”

Theanna Vernon led Ryerson with 12 kills.

Also, the Alberta Pandas needed five sets to capture bronze, beating the Dalhousie Tigers 19-25, 25-22, 20-25, 25-14, 15-11.

Kory White led all players with 33 kills for Alberta.

“We’ve got a good fight instinct, but it just took awhile for us to tap into it,” said Pandas head coach Laurie Eisler. “Once we had our backs against the wall in the fourth set, we just started to relax and play. We know how much we care, but you got to play like you don’t care sometimes.”

Julie Moore had 16 kills for Dalhousie.

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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

QUEBEC CITY — The Trinity Western Spartans earned their third U Sports men’s volleyball title in four years by defeating the top-seeded Brandon Bobcats in three sets on Sunday.

Eric Loeppky had 11 kills and four aces and Jacob Kern finished with 14 kills for Trinity Western, taking the match 25-23, 25-21, 25-19.

“Last year we lost in the final, and it stings worse than any other loss there is, so we weren’t going to let another opportunity get away,” said TWU head coach Ben Josephson. “It’s so hard to get here, you want to make sure you play well.”

Seth Friesen had 10 kills for Brandon.

In the bronze-medal matchup, the host Laval Rouge et Or beat the Alberta Golden Bears in four sets.

Alexandre Obomsawin led the way for Laval with 24 kills and nine digs to take the match 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 28-26.

“I want to thank my players. They offered quite a show for our fans and overcame yesterday’s disappointing semifinal loss,” said Laval head coach Pascal Clement.

Middle George Hobern had 10 kills on 14 attempts to lead Alberta.

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The Canadian Press