Team Ontario is back in familiar territory at the Canada Winter Games.
It will play for gold for the seventh time in Canada Games history, repeating a pattern the team has followed ever since women's hockey was introduced in 1991.
Backed by the goaltending of Julia Vandyk, who survived a late push and turned aside 31 shots, Ontario beat Alberta 4-2 in the late semifinal Thursday at CN Centre.
Rhyen McGill fired a hat trick and Kaitlyn Tse and Josiane Pozzebon each counted singles for Ontario. Tse gave Ontario a 2-0 lead with a long slapshot that got past a screened Jolene Debruyn guarding the Alberta net. That came with 6.9 seconds left and two Alberta players serving minor penalties. McGill opened the scoring 1:02 into the game and scored two in the third period, including an empty-netter.
Outshot 14-4 in the first period, Alberta narrowed the gap to 9-8 in the second period and tested Vandyk, a 17-year-old from Cambridge, several times during a five-minute stretch of the third period when Ontario took three consecutive penalties. Alexandra Poznikoff finally broke up Vandyk's shutout bid 17:57 into the third period. Channia Alexander also scored for Alberta.
In Thursday's other semifinal, Valerie Audet found a loose puck in a pileup of bodies in the crease and jammed it into the open net 1:41 into overtime to lift Quebec to a 4-3 victory over Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan forward Amber Rennie forced overtime, deflecting Kayla Kirwan's shot from the point past Quebec goalie Maude Trevisan with 2:15 left in regulation time.
Quebec outshot Saskatchewan 43-15 but goalie Jessica Vance held her team in the game with 39 saves. Marika Labrecque, Lidia Fillion and Gabrielle David also scored for Quebec. Leah Bohlken and Jaycee Gebhard were the other Saskatchewan goalscorers.
Saskatchewan will play for bronze against Alberta today at 4 p.m. at CN Centre.
Team B.C., eliminated from medal contention Wednesday in a shootout loss to Saskatchewan, earned the right to play again Friday after a 4-1 win over New Brunswick in the relegation round. Leona Sim scored two goals and Amy Potomak and Shannon Morris-Reade each fired singles for the host team. Lindsay Donovan scored for New Brunswick.
B.C. will face Manitoba Friday at 4 p.m. at Kin 2. Manitoba beat Nova Scotia 2-1 in a shootout late Thursday.
