For the first time in history, the U-18 Canadian national championships will be won by a team not from Ontario as Team Quebec and Team Atlantic eliminated Ontario Blue and Ontario Red respectively.
All 15 Canadian U-18 national championships have been won by Ontario. All but one of those wins was by Ontario Red. That will all change in 2025 as Quebec and Team Atlantic will face-off for gold after ousting Ontario Blue and Ontario Red respectively.
In the first semi-final of the day, Quebec continued to fight back eventually earning a 4-3 win over Ontario Blue. After Zoe Charland opened the scoring for Quebec, Ontario Blue responded with a pair of goals to take the lead. Late in the second period, Rosalie Trembley tied the game for Quebec, but it was Ontario Blue who retook the lead in the third. Quebec continued to answer however, with Emilie Labonte and Laurie Aubin scoring less than a minute apart to seal the victory for Quebec. Charland picked up assists on both the tying and winning goals for Quebec.
“As a group, we gave it our all from the first minute to the last," said Aubin. "Even when we were down a goal, we never gave up—we always believed that we could come back and we did. There are no words to explain how happy we are right now. [Scoring the game winning goal] felt amazing. There were three other goals leading to mine, so there are so many feelings going on; you want to celebrate but know that there are still a few minutes left to go, and we cannot let them score to tie it up. We need to play as we have been playing the whole tournament [in the gold medal game], stay true to our identity and compete the whole time tomorrow.”
The hosts, Team Atlantic continued their storybook run by defeating Ontario Red 4-2. Atlantic's stars came to play in the quarterfinals as captain Kendall Doiron, a St. Lawrence commit, and assistant captain Megan Mossey, a University of Minnesota commit, each scored twice in the win. Katie Hurley, a St. Cloud State commit, was spectacular in net making 37 saves for Team Atlantic.
“We came in confident, but not cocky and I think that helped us a lot. We played hard all game, battled and pushed through until the very end," said Doiron. "
With the number of people here and hearing the noise they make; after putting the puck in the net, it is pure adrenaline. [My goals] do not happen without the whole team. The number of times I have said how proud I am of our group and how much I love this team; I truly mean it. This is one of the most fun teams I have ever played with, it is seriously a great group of girls and it is showing on the ice.”
Quebec and Atlantic will now face off for the right to become the first non-Ontario team to win the U-18 women's national championships. Ontario Red and Ontario Blue will play for the bronze.