Weekend Sweep

The Canadiennes Start Season With Back-to-Back Wins Over Brampton Thunder

SportsSafia Ahmad — Published October 19, 2015

On Saturday, Montreal shutout the Thunder by a score of 4-0, but rookie forward Katia Heydra-Clement felt her team improved in their second game of the season.

“Yesterday’s game was a bit of a struggle,” said rookie forward Katia Heydra-Clement, who scored her first goal of the season in the win. “I think we got better as the game went along.
[After the game on Saturday], we were [already] moving on. Today, we were definitely better.”

Fellow forward Ann-Sophie Bettez added a goal and an assist, while Canadian Olympians Caroline Ouellette and Marie-Philip Poulin added a goal each.

Heading into the second period down 2-0, the Thunder were desperate to break goaltender Charline Labonté’s shutout streak, dating back to the previous day’s contest. Despite allowing a third goal from the Canadiennes, this time from Ouellette, Brampton finally struck back with a goal from forward Jess Jones with 6:24 left in the period.

However, Brampton’s celebration was shortlived as Canadiennes forward Noemie Marin scored less than two minutes into the third period. The Thunder added a second goal, but
Montreal sealed the Thunder’s fate with an empty net goal with a little over a minute to play.

“We were playing against a tough opponent,” said coach Dany Brunet. “They didn’t give up after we took a 3-0 lead in the second. They got some momentum after scoring a goal, but I think our team responded really well by upping our level of play.”

Both teams were no stranger to indiscipline this past weekend, as they spent a total of 54 minutes in the penalty box.

“We’re fortunate because we scored a couple of goals on the powerplay,” said Canadiennes captain Cathy Chartrand. “We just have to keep playing our game when that happens.”

“We wanted to prove that we could play a physical game against a physical team, and I think we did just that,” said Brunet.

New players, including former Concordia Stingers Alyssa Sherrard, Jessica Anderson, and Audrey Morand, who assisted on Clement-Heydra’s goal, also stood out in the game, much to the delight of their head coach.

“I already feel like many of the rookies on our team are able to contribute more to the team’s success,” the coach said.

The Canadiennes will play their next game on the road against the Toronto Furies on Oct. 31st.