The Concordia Stingers and Montreal Carabins will meet for the 11th time this season. Concordia has won the previous 10, but when the U Sports women's hockey national title is awarded, only game 11 will matter.
The Concordia Stingers and Montreal Carabins have found a familiar foe waiting for them in the U Sports national championship final. The two have faced each other 10 times this season already, and none of those will matter except for whoever wins the 11th game this weekend.
At least that's what the University of Montreal Carabins hope as they've lost all 10 match ups with Concordia to date, including a sweep of the RSEQ best two-of-three finals only two weeks ago.
Montreal however, has proven every prediction wrong at this tournament already. The Carabins were given the 8th seed to enter the tournament, earning them an opening round match up with the top seed University of British Columbia. Montreal beat them 4-3 in a shootout to advance to the semifinals. In the semis, they came up against the 4th ranked University of New Brunswick, and handed them a lopsided 5-1 defeat. Audrey-Anne Veillette had two goals while Juliette Rolland, Laurie-Anne Ethier, and Jade Picard also scored for Montreal, while Hailey Jackson had the lone UNB goal in the game.
Regardless of their strong play to date, including consistent netminding from Maude Desroches, Montreal remains the underdog yet again against an experience Concordia Stingers roster.
Concordia had a scare in the semifinals against the University of Guelph. The Guelph Gryphons jumped out to a lead as Maeve Sutherland-Case scored off the rush.
Concordia however, continued to get better throughout the game. With under two minutes to go in the second, Courtney Rice equalized the game 1-1. Concordia continued to outshoot Guelph in the third, but Guelph netminder Martina Fedel, and Stingers goalie Jordyn Verbeek were both on top of their game.
Heading to overtime, Concordia's top line made the difference as Emilie Lussier scored off a Jessymaude Drapeau rebound to lift Concordia to a 2-1 overtime win.
Concordia won the U Sports national title in both 2024 and 2022. For some, like Drapeau and fellow Stingers star Emilie Lavoie it will be a chance for a third national title. Concordia will rely heavily on that experience in the final, which is set to drop the puck Sunday, March 22 at 3pm in Elmira, Ontario against their most familiar foe this season, the University of Montreal.