2009-10 National Women's Team

HEFFORD’S HAT TRICK (PLUS ONE) LEADS CANADA TO WIN OVER ROYALS

CALGARY, Alta. – Jayna Hefford appears to be ready for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Hefford (Kingston, Ont.) scored a hat trick and added the shootout winner as Canada’s National Women’s Team earned a 5-4 win over the Calgary Royals on Wednesday night in NWT Midget Series action.

Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, Que.) and Sarah Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, Que.) also scored in the shootout for Canada, which gained a measure of revenge for a 4-2 loss to the Royals at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena on November 17.

Hefford’s second goal of the game, 2:02 into the third period, looked to be an insurance goal for the Canadians, but Mark Christensen, Brett Dallen and Ryan MacPhee scored in a span of 3:20 to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead within four minutes of the Hefford goal.

With time ticking down, Canada turned to the line of Hefford, Ouellette and Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.) for a spark, and Hefford snapped a shot through the pads of Calgary goaltender James D’Andrea with 5:24 to go to complete her hat trick and force overtime.

Although the Royals had a power play in the extra frame it was Canada with the best opportunity, as D’Andrea made a sprawling pad save to thwart a Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, Sask.) shorthanded breakaway.

Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.) scored the other goal for Canada, while netminder Kim St-Pierre (Châteauguay, Que.) made a number of key stops in the first period to keep the Canadians in the game and turned away Royals captain Brad Buckingham on the final shot of the shootout to preserve the win.

Canada wraps up the NWT Midget Series against the Calgary Flames on Friday night, the final game in Calgary before the team departs for Vancouver in its quest for a third-consecutive Olympic gold medal.

Goals/Buts:
02:02 CAN Jayna Hefford (Carla MacLeod, Meghan Agosta)
02:15 ROY Mark Christensen (Evan Jarock)
03:39 ROY Brett Dallen (Ryan MacPhee, Reid Simmonds)
05:35 ROY Ryan MacPhee (Kyle Pollard)
14:36 CAN Jayna Hefford (Meghan Agosta, Gillian Ferrari)

Penalties/Punitions:
16:32 ROY Logan Maddin (Holding/Retenir)

Goals/Buts:
none/aucun

Penalties/Punitions:
02:10 CAN Sarah Vailancourt (Holding/Retenir)

CAN Caroline Ouellette GOAL/BUT
ROY Kyle Pollard GOAL/BUT
CAN Sarah Vaillancourt GOAL/BUT
ROY Brett Dallen GOAL/BUT
CAN Jayna Hefford GOAL/BUT
ROY Brad Buckingham NO GOAL/AUCUN BUT