WATERLOO, ONT.: A women’s hockey player from Waverley is a U Sport national women’s hockey champion.
Nel Vigneau Sargeant and her Bishops Gaiters—in just their fourth year of their program—shutout the heavily favoured and host Waterloo Warriors to grab the huge victory by an underdog team.
The Gaiters defeated the No. 1 ranked Concordia to make the U Sport nationals and then beat teams that were ranked in the national top 10. They were not amongst the top 10 ranked teams.
The win was the result of good defensive play and an outstanding 27 save performance by netminder Ericka Gagnon.
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Gabrielle Santerre sent the puck up the ice to Gabrielle Rousseau, just out of the sin bin, and she made no mistake skating in and wiring home the Gaiters second goal to give them an insurance marker late in the third.
Santerre, the team’s captain, broke open the scoreless game with a slap shot from the faceoff circle midway through the second period.
Maude Pepin scored an empty net goal to give the Gaiters the 3-0 victory.
Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power-play.
Vigneau Sargeant is an assistant captain with the team and was in her final year of eligibility, so gets to go out as a U Sport women’s national champion.
