Spotlight on girls hockey for a day

Organizers couldn\’t have picked a better day for the eighth-annual Scotiabank Girls Hockeyfest on Saturday, Jan. 7.


While over 200 novice, atom and peewee-aged minor hockey players took to the Scotiabank Place ice for sessions led by the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and Carleton Ravens varsity teams, four local players provided a source of inspiration for the youngsters as they wore the maple leaf overseas on the same day.

Ottawa Senators women\’s hockey stars Morgan Richardson and Cydney Roesler helped Canada win a gold medal over the U.S. in the final of the under-18 women\’s world championships, while Sens grads Jamie Lee Rattray and Isabel Ménard played for the U22 development team in Germany.

Rattray was an offensive leader for Canada throughout the event that featured top national teams from Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and Sweden, scoring three goals and three assists in five games.

Ménard also contributed three points as Canada went 3-2 with overtime and shootout losses to Finland and Sweden to finish third at the Meco Cup.

Meanwhile, back home, it was mostly about smiles and spills as Olympic gold medalist Sami Jo Small put the up-and-coming generation through drills at the free all-day event.

Now a goaltender for the Toronto Furies, Small is a co-founder of the Canadian Women\’s Hockey League. The major piece missing in local women\’s hockey development, Ottawa no longer has a franchise in an elite women\’s hockey league since the Senators were folded by the CWHL in 2009 after consecutive seasons where they won just one of every six games.

Read related story: ‘Wasted talent’ — Elite female hockey players from Ottawa face end of competitive careers beyond university after CWHL team’s departure