CWHL Clarkson Cup Preview: One Final Battle

Les Canadiennes All Business In Their Search For Elusive Title

SportsJordan Stoopler — Published March 5, 2017

Les Canadiennes and the Calgary Inferno are set to battle for the second straight year in the title game on Sunday afternoon at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre.

“I’m feeling great,” said Canadiennes forward Caroline Ouellette before the team’s final practice Saturday night at the University of Ottawa’s Minto Sports Complex. “I am looking forward to it. It’s why we play the game, to have the chance to be in a big game. It’s hard to make it to the final of the Clarkson Cup and we are very privileged to have made it here.”

“I’ve been looking forward to the game for quite some time now,” said Canadiennes captain Marie-Philip Poulin. “We’re there and for us, we just have to play our game and stay focused.”

Montreal and Calgary split the season series 3-3, with each two-game set split evenly between them. In fact, each team scored 17 total goals in their head-to-head battles. Both teams are cognizant that this one-game, winner-take-all showdown can go either way.

“I don’t think anyone can guess which way that game will go,” said Inferno defender Meaghan Mikkelson-Reid. “All season long, we’ve had hard, tough games with Montreal. They are a great team that we have a lot of respect for.”

“They’re a great team, we are a great team,” said Les Canadiennes’ Ann-Sophie Bettez. “It’s going to come down to who shows up tomorrow. We have to make sure everyone is on [Sunday].”

This will be Montreal’s third straight Clarkson Cup final appearance, with the team coming up short in each of their two previous finals.

Last year’s final was a lopsided 8-3 contest in favor of the Inferno. While members of Les Canadiennes have the game in the back of their minds, they say that this pivotal game is about more than just revenge.

“We wanted to enjoy the journey and not make it so much about the final ending,” said Ouellette. “We want to have a game that we are going to be proud of, 60 minutes of great hockey. If we can do that, the end result takes care of itself.”

“We don’t want to think about last year,” said Poulin. “It’s in the past. It was disappointing and we want to move on. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little different.”

While it is abundantly clear that Charline Labonté will start in goal for Les Canadiennes, Calgary’s starter is still in question. Inferno head coach Scott Reid remained coy when asked who would start Sunday’s game.

The team has three goalies on its roster: Delayne Brian, who helped lead the Inferno to the title last year, veteran Genevieve Lacasse, and rookie phenom Emerance Maschmeyer. The three have rotated starts all season, with great success.

Montreal is none too concerned with the uncertainty emanating from the Inferno net, though.

“We both have great goaltending,” said Ouellette. “We have faced both of them and won against both. They are both great goalies, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen.”

“They are all really great goalies,” said Labonté. “It’s two national team goalies, so you know you are going to get a good game out of them. It doesn’t change anything no matter who is in.”

Montreal will have an extra weapon in their arsenal; the stabilizing presence of Julie Chu on the back end.

It was unclear whether Chu would make the final. The Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team–for which she serves as head coach–were swept in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec finals by McGill Saturday afternoon, eliminating the tentatively scheduled Sunday afternoon tilt. Chu was at the team’s 7:00 practice on Saturday and will suit up for Montreal on Sunday.

“We are quite happy to have Julie Chu join our team,” said Ouellette.”She’s a huge part of our defensive core. She is also one of our best leaders. She’s going to calm us all down. She has so much experience in big games.”

The Clarkson Cup final will be played at 4 p.m from the nation’s capital. The game will be broadcast on Rogers Sportsnet.