MARCH 21 - It may not of been Salt Lake City, but the CF Women's National Hockey Championship was as close and exciting as any women's hockey final game anywhere in the world.

Valcartier's Private Erika Oliver makes her presence felt at the front of Ontario's net minder. Valcartier went on to win the Championship game 3-2 in overtime.

In overtime, the Quebec region - represented by the Valcartier Lions Women's team - defeated the Ontario region's Ontario Stars by a score of 3-2 at the 2002 CF Women's National Hockey Championships held March 9-17 at CFB Borden. Seconds after a face off in the Ontario Stars' end, Valcartier player Sergeant Charlene Arsenault, with the help of Second Lieutenant Cynthia Steele, picked up a loose puck near the net and scored the tie-breaking goal two-and-a-half minutes into overtime.

"It felt wonderful. They [teammates] are always saying 'shoot, shoot, shoot the puck,'" said Sgt Arsenault. "And I finally shot the puck and I finally got a goal. With all my teammates behind me, I had lots of help."

Like last year's championship game with Ontario, the Quebec region kept their opponents off balance by keeping up the pressure. They worked hard in neutral zone to make it as difficult as possible for their opponents to cross their blue line and get within shooting distance of the net.

Even with three forward and defensive lines - compared to Valcartier's two - Ontario found itself down two goals near the middle of the second period. But with 10 minutes to go in the second period, they made more frequent line changes and took longer passes. Solid checking mixed with some good puck control gave Ontario the scoring chances they needed to get two goals and force the game into overtime.

"This team knows what it takes to win. They prepared well, but they just didn't win. We committed to playing defense first. We were hitting the puck to the other end, keeping it low and cycling," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Brian Elliott, coach of the Ontario region's women's hockey team. He added that they played only two times as a team before coming to the nationals.

A close call. Ontario Stars Goalie Corporal Jennifer Curnew lunges to prevent a loose puck from crossing the line. The Ontario Stars went undefeated going into the final game of the 2002 CF Women's National Hockey Championships.

"Once we were down two goals we could have folded, but we changed the goal tender and that stirred things up a bit."

The Ontario region was undefeated in the tournament round robin with four wins and no losses. This was their third trip in a row to the finals and the first time they were able to take the game into overtime.

The Quebec region finished the round robin in second place with three wins and one loss, while the Pacific region was third with two wins and two losses. The Atlantic region finished fourth with one win and three losses and the Prairie region came in fifth without a victory.

Tournament MVP: Private Erika Oliver, Quebec region
Final Game MVP: Sergeant Charlene Arsenault, Quebec region

Hockey Women's 2002 Allstars:

Master Corporal Martine Guay, Quebec region, goalie
Private Nicole Orr, Prairie region, defence
Master Corporal Nicole Bureau, Ontario region, defence
Private Erika Oliver, Quebec region, forward
Corporal Brigette Delisle, Pacific region, forward
Captain Ilse Van Oostrum, Atlantic region, forward