Nov 12, 2012 | ddowney | 1650 views
Horton and Dodds Win Gold In Under 18 Championships!
For the first time in the history of the National Women’s Under-18 Championship, Ontario Blue is going home with the trophy, and its players are travelling back with gold medals wrapped around their necks.It’s an impressive feat for the underdog Ontario squad at this year’s national championship, which has only appeared in one other previous gold medal match-up at this national championship, falling to Ontario Red 5-1 in the final game of the 2009 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in Surrey, B.C.
Ontario Red has won the gold medal at all seven previous national championships since the event’s 2011 inception.But it was a winning week for Ontario Blue, who truly came together as a team to climb an uphill battle and reach the ultimate hockey pinnacle for these talented under-18 players. But on Sunday evening, it was Jessica Vallotton (Glenboro, Man.) to crack the scoreboard first for Manitoba midway through the first. But Paige Horton (St. Thomas, Ont.) quickly replied less than two minutes later to tie it up before the period was done.It was back-and-forth action on the ice, and the puck flew up and down the ice through the second, with Lauryn Keen (Manitou, Man.) notching one at 3:27 in the second and Krista Yip-Chuck (Whitby, Ont.) answering back at 15:38 in the middle frame.But the third period was all true blue, with Hailey Noronha (Newmarket, Ont.) scoring the game-winning goal just a minute into the third, and Brooke Webster (Aurora, Ont.) finalizing the 4-2 score and guaranteeing the gold medal on an empty net in the very last second of the game.The bench erupted in cheers, with players spilling onto the ice in ecstatic excitement to embrace each other, and each other. Women’s hockey history was made Sunday at the EnCana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C.