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By Dan Plouffe
Ottawa’s Jamie Lee Rattray and the Canadian women’s hockey team came out on top of a classic Canada vs USA World Championship final confrontation on Sunday in Utica, NY, with the Canadians claiming the gold medal in overtime.
The sport’s top rivals traded blows back-and-forth in the final of the Apr. 3-14 tournament, with neither side able to go ahead by more than a goal at any point during the contest that featured four goals in the third period and finished 5-5 after regulation.
Danielle Serdachny, who plays NCAA hockey nearby at Colgate University, scored the golden goal for Canada in overtime to the dismay of the largely pro-USA crowd in Utica.
Rattray’s world championship victory in upstate New York came a decade after she helped the Clarkson University Golden Knights capture their first NCAA women’s hockey championship in 2014.
Canada previously lost to USA 1-0 to conclude the preliminary round following victories over Finland, Switzerland and Czechia. The Canadians then beat Sweden 5-1 in the quarter-final and Czechia 4-0 in the semis to reach the final.
Rattray got Canada off on the right foot by setting up Canada’s first goal of the tournament with her feed to PWHL Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner during their 4-1 win over Finland. The Kanata Blazers/Ottawa Senators women’s hockey product also registered an assist in Canada’s 5-0 preliminary-round victory over the Czech Republic.
Playing as Canada’s 13th forward, Rattray played just four shifts in the championship match and averaged eight shifts per game throughout the tournament.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic champion will now return to Boston for the conclusion of the Professional Women’s Hockey League’s inaugural season. Her fifth-place squad will be looking to overtake Ottawa in the final five games for a top-four position and a place in the post-season.
Rattray has two goals and eight assists in Boston’s 19 matches.
Ottawa teams hit podium at OWHA provincials
The bronze-medallist Nepean Wildcats under-11 ‘AA’ girls’ hockey team earned Ottawa’s best result at the top youth level of play, and the Kanata Rangers U15 ‘A’ won a provincial title at the Apr. 11-14 Ontario Women’s Hockey Association Provincial Championships in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Wildcats earned two wins and a tie in the opening round and then beat their Wildcats namesakes from Toronto Leaside in the quarter-finals. They fell to the Whitby Wolves 4-2 in the semis before rebounding with a 2-1 victory over the Oakville Hornets to win the bronze medal.
The Rangers came through in the clutch, winning three consecutive one-goal games over Durham West, Peterborough and Saugeen-Maitland to advance to their division championship game, which they won 3-1 over London.
The Ottawa Ice Cats also earned silver in the Senior ‘AA’ division, as did the Stittsville Rockets in the U18 ‘B’ competition, while the Gloucester-Cumberland Stars U18 ‘BB’ and Nepean Wildcats U15 ‘C’ teams both took bronze.
Rideau adds more gold at gymnastics provincials
The Ontario Women’s and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships concluded its four-day run at the EY Centre on Sunday, with numerous local athletes adding to the local medal haul on the weekend after an impressive opening two days.
Read More: Freshly-crowned top-tier provincial champ thanks home OGC team for making win possible
Rideau Gymnastics continued its dominance of the younger men’s ranks as Artem Petrov won the Provincial Level 1, Age 8 competition, while Castle Kong and William Daley posted identical totals for third place in the standings.
Read More: Rideau Gymnastics men fly to top at hometown provincials
Rideau’s Axiom Huff-Boyle placed second in P1 Age 9, while Tumblers’ Tristan Wolfe was third in P1 Age 13-15, and Corona’s Zoey Vega earned second all-around in the women’s Level 6 2013 A group.
The all-star teams also dazzled the Saturday night crowd with their performances to provide another signature moment for the 1,200-athlete provincials.
Track cyclist Ariane Bonhomme pedals Canada to 4th at Nations Cup, Paris Olympic berth
Ottawa Bicycle Club product Ariane Bonhomme helped Canada to a fourth-place finish in the women’s team pursuit competition at the Apr. 12-14 UCI Track Cycling Nations Cup event in Milton, ON.
The team of Bonhomme, Erin Attwell, Maggie Coles-Lyster and Sarah Van Dam lost the bronze medal race to France to finish fourth of 11 teams entered.
The event was the final race used to determine Olympic qualification, which Canada safely secured in the women’s team pursuit discipline. Bonhomme, 29, is the lone returnee from the team that competed for Canada at the last Olympics.
Other local Paris 2024 cycling candidates include two-time Olympian Michael Woods and Derek Gee, who will be in the running to fill Canada’s two entries in the men’s road race.
Navan Grads advance to CCHL championship
The Navan Grads closed out the Rockland Nationals on home ice Sunday to advance to the Central Canada Hockey League Jr. ‘A’ championship series against the Smiths Falls Bears.
Jaeden Nelson was named the game’s first star as he stopped all 34 Rockland shots in Navan’s 1-0 shutout victory. Cristobal Tola scored the series-winning goal as regular season-champion Navan won the semi-final series 4-1.
West Ottawa Wild bow out in playoffs at ringette nationals
Playing as Team Ontario, the West Ottawa Wild under-16 ‘AA’ ringette team won its first three games but then dropped the next three at the Apr. 7-13 Canadian Ringette Championships in New Brunswick.
The Wild went 3-2 in the first round of play before falling to host New Brunswick in a wild finish to their playoff game. Trailing 2-1 and playing shorthanded, Lauren Staye scored her second goal of the game to tie it up for West Ottawa with under two minutes left. New Brunswick responded with a powerplay goal seconds later, but Emily Barteaux replied again for West Ottawa with 28 seconds left to force overtime, where the hosts prevailed.
Gloucester-Cumberland and West Ottawa both went 1-4 in the U19 division, while the Nepean Ravens were 1-5 and Gatineau Fusion 0-5 in the National Ringette League finals.