In the history of the Canada Winter Games, Ontario has won the women's hockey championship five of six times it has been played.
In fact, the only time they lost was four years ago in Halifax when Alberta beat in them in the final in overtime. That run of success started in 1991 in Charlottetown and on Sunday night Team Ontario showed the host team from B.C. it has every intention of running the table again.
The Ontario team boasts 10 players who won a silver medal for Canada at the IIHF women's world under-18 championship in Buffalo, N.Y. and on Sunday they showed few flaws in handing the girls from B.C. their second straight loss of the weekend. Seven different goalscorers gave Ontario an impressive 7-1 victory at CN Centre.
First-period goals from Kelly Mariani, Lindsay Agnew and Loren Gable staked Ontario to a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission and they never looked back. Cassidy Vinkle added to the total midway through the second period, finding a rebound in the slot and sliding a low shot stickside on goalie Morgan Skinner. Ontario dominated the second period and Samantha Cogan added to the total late in the period with a high floater that fooled Skinner.
In the third period, Sarah Hine connected on a power play and defenceman Lindsay Eastwood jumped into the rush to snap in a shot from the slot to cap the scoring.
Fifteen-year-old Amy Potomak of Aldergrove found the net for B.C. 13 minutes into the game, the only goal Julia Vandyk allowed while facing 15 shots. Her team outshot B.C. 46-15.
Ontario opened Saturday with a 5-1 win over Prince Edward Island, while B.C. lost its opener 7-0 to Quebec.
Other results Sunday were as follows: New Brunswick 14 Yukon 0; Newfoundland-Labrador 7 Northwest Territories 0, Saskatchewan 6 Nova Scotia 0; Quebec 11 Prince Edward Island 1; Alberta 4 Manitoba 0.
Alberta (2-0) leads the A pool, while Ontario (2-0) and Quebec (2-0) are tied atop the B pool. Preliminary games resume today 11:30 a.m. at CN Centre and Kin 2.
Quarterfinals are set for Wednesday and the semifinals will be played Thursday at 4 and 7:30 p.m. at CN Centre. The top two C pool teams will have to play a qualifying playoff Tuesday against the fourth-place teams from the A and B pools.
The championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, also at CN Centre, preceded by the bronze-medal game at 4 p.m.
