Martlets seek to extend record streak with third straight women's hockey title

MONTREAL - After losing three Olympians to the national team, the McGill Martlets, their record winning streak and two-year reign atop Canadian university women's hockey looked ripe for the picking this season.

But heading into this week's CIS championship, the Martlets are still riding that streak - now at a whopping 84 games - and remain the team to beat.

"Last year we were expected to win," said Martlets captain Vanessa Davidson, the school's all-time leading scorer. "But this year, losing those players, I don't think people around Canada expected us to continue winning the way we were. So we wanted to prove to everyone that even though we lost two Olympians, we learned a lot from them and we're still a pretty good team."

In addition to losing goaltender Charline Labonte and defenceman Catherine Ward to the gold-medal winning Canadian Olympic team, head coach Peter Smith also took a one-year sabbatical to serve as Melody Davidson's assistant in Vancouver.

That left the stewardship of the record win streak and two straight national titles to Smith's assistant and former Martlets player Amey Doyle on an interim basis.

McGill hasn't missed a beat, storming to a 20-0-0 record this season.

"We lost a lot of leadership and experience in Labonte and Ward, and with Peter gone those were big shoes to fill," Doyle said. "But we've worked very hard to establish good work habits and a winning environment over the last few years. It clearly rubbed off."

According to both Davidson and Doyle, talk of the winning streak - which dates back to Dec. 30, 2007 - is non-existent around the Martlets.

"We've tried so hard to ignore it," Doyle said. "It hasn't defined this team or what we want to do. But it's a bonus. It sets us apart from other teams."

It also allowed the Martlets to enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed, a key position considering only three teams have dominated at nationals since 2002.

One of McGill, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Alberta has won every Canadian championship since 2002, with Alberta claiming five of those eight titles.

This year's tournament starts Thursday at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. By grabbing the top seed, McGill avoids having to face either Laurier or Alberta until the gold medal game Sunday evening.

The Laurier Golden Hawks had a 26-0-1 record this season en route to their seventh straight Ontario championship, while the Alberta Pandas were almost as impressive at 23-1-0. But one of those two teams will not have a chance to play for the national title.

If there is one team that would love to end McGill's winning streak, it would have to be the Golden Hawks. Laurier has lost in the national final to the Martlets the last two years, and head coach Rick Osborne hopes his team gets another shot Sunday.

"McGill may not be as dominant as last year, without Labonte and Ward it will create a different dynamic and if we get to play them we should be able to go after them a little more," Osborne said. "I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that this will be a cakewalk for McGill, though that is still a great team.

"We certainly would love to get another crack at them, and hopefully come out with a different result."

Joining the Big Three at nationals are the Saint Mary's Huskies, the surprise winner of the Atlantic Conference, the host St. Francis Xavier X-Women and the Montreal Carabins.

McGill is in Pool A with fourth-seeded Saint Mary's and sixth-seeded Montreal. The Martlets beat Saint Mary's in non-conference play 11-0 this season and took all seven meetings with the Carabins, including a three-game sweep in the Quebec conference final.

Laurier holds the No. 2 seed and is joined in Pool B by third-ranked Alberta and fifth-ranked St. FX.

The winner of each pool after round-robin play will face off in the gold medal game Sunday evening.

McGill hopes that is the opportunity to put an exclamation point on the statement the Martlets made this season.

Although McGill hasn't faced Laurier or Alberta this season, but the Marlets have only one goal in mind.

"We don't care who we're playing, we just play our game," said Davidson, as her team looks for a third-straight title. "If we do that, we'll be successful."