2009 National Women's Under-18 Championship

ONTARIO RED ON TO GOLD MEDAL GAME

SURREY, B.C. – Manitoba’s late game burst had hockey fans inside South Surrey Arena on the edge of their seats Saturday evening at the prospect of last year’s third place team beating Ontario Red in the semifinals, but it just wasn’t to be for the Manitobans, with the defending champions edging the underdogs 4-3.

Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, Ont.) secured Ontario Red’s first goal of the night just under four minutes into the matchup, on a setup from Kelly Terry (Whitby, Ont.) and Jenna McParland (Schreiber, Ont.). The central Canadians continued to dominate the ice during the first, with Rattray this time making the pass to Shannon Doyle (Baldwin, Ont). to put the score up 2-0 on a power-play going into the intermission.

Ontario Red again jumped on another power-play opportunity midway through the second, with Kelly Babstock putting it past Manitoba netminder Abby Ryplanski (Winnipeg, Man.) on an assist from Nicole Gifford (Ennismore, Ont.) Sally Butler (Etobicoke, Ont.) followed suit, increasing the gap to 4-0.

But the Manitobans turned it on in the third, kicking off some back-and-forth action with a power-play goal by Meghan Dufault (Winnipeg, Man.) from Kristine Grenier (St. Leon, Man.). Meagan Vestby (Swan River, Man.) scored on another power-play, while Dufault pocketed her second of the night to put her team back in the game at 4-3.

But despite pulling Ryplanski in the dying minutes of the game, the Manitobans weren’t able to tie it up before time ran out on the first semifinal of the night. Ontario Red will try for its six straight gold medal win Saturday (3 p.m. PT), but first Manitoba will play for bronze (11:30 a.m. PT).