The 2011 Clarkson Cup was contested at the Barrie Molson Centre in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The four competing teams included three from the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the leag ...

and one from the

Western Women's Hockey League The Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) was a women's hockey league in Canada. The league was established in 2004, and consisted of teams in Canada (some former National Women's Hockey League teams) and one from the United States. The league offi ...

. All teams played each other in a round robin Thursday March 24 through Saturday March 26, with the top two teams meeting in the final Sunday March 27. In 2010 the tournament consisted of just two semi-finals and a final. A change to the format this year has made the tournament longer.

Qualification

The top four teams from the CWHL competed in a tournament based on seedings. Seeds were determined by standings at end of regular season play. On March 11 and 12, the number 1 seed played against the number 2 seed while the number 3 seed challenged the number 4 seed. The victors competed on March 13 to determine the CWHL champion. The WWHL champion was the lone WWHL team to compete in the Clarkson Cup.

Boston Blades The Worcester Blades were a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League, based in Worcester, Massachusetts, and played their home games at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center. The team began play in the 2010–1 ...

is eliminated and cannot participate in the Clarkson Cup Championship.

Montreal Stars Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

Brampton Thunder The Markham Thunder was a professional women's ice hockey team in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). From 1998 through 2017, the franchise was known as the Brampton Thunder and Brampton Canadettes-Thunder before relocating from Brampton, O ...

and Toronto HC participated in the final tournament. The

Minnesota Whitecaps The Minnesota Whitecaps are a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF; formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League). They play in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, a ...

of the WWHL complete the four teams.

Rosters

Brampton Thunder

Coaching Staff

* ''General Manager:'' Maria Quinto and Jody Katz * ''Head Coach:'' Peter Crosby * ''Assistant Coach:'' Phil Bateman * ''Assistant Coach:'' Kristi Alcorn

Montreal Stars

Coaching staff

* ''General Manager:'' Megh Hewings * ''Head Coach:''Patrick Rankine * ''Assistant Coach:'' Philipe Trahan

Minnesota Whitecaps

Coaching staff

* ''Head Coach:'' Jack Brodt * ''Assistant Coach:'' Dwayne Schmidgall * ''Assistant Coach:'' Jim Minkoff

Toronto

Coaching Staff

*General Manager: Barb Fisher *Head coach: Dan Lichterman *Assistant coach: Joanne Eustace *Assistant coach: Bartley Blair

Tournament

In the first games, Toronto and Montreal earned victories over Brampton and Minnesota . In the second day,

Sarah Vaillancourt Sarah Marie Vaillancourt (born May 8, 1985) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player. She is a member of the Canada women's national team and a member of Montreal Stars (CWHL). 2-time Olympic Gold Medallist / World Championships Gold / 4-time Wo ...

scored 3 goals during the game to lead Montreal to a 7-4 victory over Brampton. In another match,

Sami Jo Small Sami Jo Small (born March 25, 1976) is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the Canadian national team, she was a three-time Olympic medallist and four-time World Championship medallist. One of the founders of the now defun ...

celebrated her 35th birthday by stopping 40 shots to lead Toronto to a 6-0 win over Minnesota. The Championships tournament ran over the weekend. Saturday, Montreal scored a crucial victory 2-1 against Toronto. This win guaranteed Montreal a place in the Clarkson Cup final on Sunday against Toronto, who also recorded two victories in the tournament.

Championship game

March 27th Sunday: The final game concluded with the powerful Montreal team defeating Toronto 5 - 0. Montreal got off to a 2 - 0 lead in the first period, The first goal was scored by Noémie Marin on a backhand from her off wing at 14:47 as she converted a pass from

Caroline Ouellette Caroline Ouellette (born May 25, 1979) is a Canadian retired ice hockey player and current associate head coach of the Concordia Stingers women's ice hockey program. She was a member of the Canadian national women's ice hockey team and a member ...

. The second goal was scored at 7:29 minute from a face off in the Toronto end as Dominique Thibault took the draw and Vanessa Davidson skated off the boards, picked up the puck and put a quick shot behind goaltender

. The lone goal of the second period was scored at 10:36 by Sabrina Harbec on a nice outside drive cutting by

Annie Guay Annie Guay (born June 29, 1985) is a Canadian ice hockey player. She is a member of the Canadian national women's hockey team and a member of Montreal Stars (CWHL). Her first tournament for the senior Canada women's national ice hockey team was ...

. Sabrina Harbec pulled the goalie across the crease and put the puck in the top corner. The shots at the end of the second period were 34 to 17 in favour of the

. Montreal added two more goals in the third period to capture the 5-0 win Final game. At the 5:33 minute,

Julie Chu Julie Wu Chu (born March 13, 1982) is an American-Canadian retired Olympic ice hockey player who played the position of forward on the United States women's ice hockey team and the position of defense with Les Canadiennes of the Canadian Wome ...

feathered a pass to

, who made a perfect low shot to score. The final goal of the game was scored with 2:42 left as

picked up a pass from

and she hit the mark on a quick shot from about five feet out. Toronto goalie

played well in defeat as Montreal controlled the game outshooting Toronto 51 to 26. Toronto did threaten offensively early in the game and could have turned the contest around but Montreal goalie,

Kim St-Pierre Kim St-Pierre (born December 14, 1978 in Châteauguay, Quebec) is a Canadian ice hockey player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and five-time IIHF world champion. She was announced as a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee on June 24, 2020. ...

, came up with exceptional saves to earn the shutout and ultimately crown

the Clarkson Cup Champions 2011. *The Three Stars of the Game: First Star - Dominique Thibault, Montreal. Second Star - Vanessa Davidson, Montreal. Third Start - Jennifer Botterill, Toronto.

Awards and honours

References

{{Professional Women's Hockey seasons

Sport in Barrie 2011

Qualification

Rosters

Brampton Thunder

Coaching Staff

Montreal Stars

Coaching staff

Minnesota Whitecaps

Coaching staff

Toronto

Coaching Staff

Tournament

Championship game

Awards and honours

See also

References