Players on Whitehorse’s Eh Team are more used to playing against each other than with each other.
But that didn’t prevent the squad from winning the beginner division of the Calgary Women’s Spring Hockey Tournament over the weekend.
The Eh Team, which went undefeated in four games, is made up of players from all six teams in the Whitehorse Women’s Hockey League. They were up against teams playing together all season.
“We pieced together players from all the teams in the league,” said Eh Team assistant captain Stephanie Hammond. “We were really fortunate to have two ice-times before the tournament and to get support from the experienced players (Susan Hamilton and Vanessa Bogaert) to have us gel as a team.
“It was amazing. Some of the lines out there - it was like they were playing in a line together all season. They were playing against each other (in the league).”
The Eh Team captured the title with a 7-1 win over the Mother Puckers from Medicine Hat in the final. Whitehorse defenceman Kim Champman scored her first-ever goal in the game.
“For the most part, it was super balanced across the board,” said Hammond. “In the last game, every single player on the team got a point - a goal or an assist. No one got a hat trick the whole tournament, everyone was contributing. There was no one standing out above the rest.”
The Eh Team reached the final with three round-robin wins. They defeated Canmore’s Mad Hackers 5-0 on Friday.
They then defeated Calgary’s Junior Wreckers 1-0 on Saturday with centre Nicole Petersen scoring the game-winner.
Helping get the Eh Team to two shutouts in four games was goalie Sue Roy, “who isn’t a beginner,” said Hammond. “But we checked with the tournament organizers beforehand and they said that’s fine, often the goalies aren’t beginners.
“Because our defence played so well, keeping the puck down in (the opposing) end, and clearing it out when it was in our zone, Sue had some good saves but didn’t see a ton of shots.”
The Whitehorse squad finished the round-robin with a 6-1 win over the Mother Puckers. Eh Team winger “Kirsti Muller, who doesn’t score a lot of goals, scored twice in that game, which was exciting,” said Hammond.
Two years ago, another incarnation of the Eh Team won the beginner division of Anchorage’s Fools on Ice tournament in Alaska.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com