PWHPA: Calgary Wins First Showcase

The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association officially kicked off the 2021-22 Secret Dream Gap Tour this weekend. Calgary’s Team Scotiabank joined three other PWHPA squads for a mini-tournament showcase in Truro, Nova Scotia that wrapped up over two days. Joining Team Scotiabank were Team Harvey’s from Montreal, Team Bauer from Boston, and Team Sonnet from Toronto. This was the first PWHPA Showcase stop on the Secret Dream Gap Tour since Calgary played host for a showcase back in May.

Team Scotiabank only won a single game of Round Robin play at the Secret Dream Gap Tour in Calgary last season (find our coverage here ), finishing 1-3-0 and losing out on the chance to host the finals at the Scotiabank Saddledome. There were some individual standouts, including a dominant run from Sarah Potomak who had five goals in four games giving her the final goals lead for the Round Robin portion of the tournament. Looking for a redemption performance, Calgary squared off with Boston in game one.

GAME ONE: Team Scotiabank 3 vs Team Bauer 0

Goaltending turned into the story of the weekend for Calgary. Marlene Boisonnault is the only returning netminder for Team Scotiabank from last season, and she quickly set up to stake her place. Boisonnault pitched a shut out in game one, holding Boston completely off the scoresheet. She got run support in the form of three goals from Team Scotiabank, including this vintage blue line blast from veteran defender Brigette Lacquette:

Samantha Cogan and Megan Grenon had the other two markers for Team Scotiabank. In the other semi-final, Montreal’s Team Harvey’s picked up a win over Toronto’s Team Sonnet to set the stage for a Montreal-Calgary final on Saturday.

GAME TWO: Team Scotiabank 2 vs Team Harvey’s 1 (shootout)

This was goaltender Kelsey Roberts’ time to take the reigns in the blue paint, as she joins Team Scotiabank from the University of Calgary. Following her partner’s game one shutout, she put on a goalie show of her own and earned Player of the Game for her performance.

Near the halfway mark of the first period, Calgary opened the scoring off a Kelty Apperson shot that made it 1-0. Montreal wouldn’t respond until the 2nd period, but a Sarah Lefort marker seven minutes into the middle frame would tie things up. Things remained square in a tightly contested third period, and the game would require 3-on-3 overtime. Enter Sarah Potomak and her flair for offense:

Sealing the Showcase win, Team Scotiabank will now look forward to trying it again. The second stop on the Dream Gap Tour is the Kipling Showcase set for Toronto on December 18th and 19th. Check back in with Matchsticks & Gasoline for all the results to see how Team Scotiabank fares!

by MilhouseFirehouse