For the first time since 2010, women’s teams from all over Canada converged to play in a national championship to determine the best team in the country of hockey. The Montreal Angles were coming into the tournament as reigning champions having won it three years earlier, but with a much different squad. They were bringing in a squad strong of 17 players, including 5 rookies, and coached by one of the most experienced footy players in all of Canada, Aimee Legault. The Angles had an interesting draw facing off against the High Park Demons, Edmonton Emus and Etobicoke Kangaroos.
The Quebec team played current womens OAFL Champions High Park Demons in their first game and the Angels used their superior numbers to their advantage at every chance they had. Attacking in packs helped the Angles get ahead by a few goals by half time without allowing a single point. The second half saw much of the same with the Demons looking disoriented by the level of play from the Montrealers. Goals came from all over the place for the Angles while maintaining a shutout. All in all, it was a very promising start for our women.
The last game of the day would prove to be much more difficult as the inexperienced Angles faced off against the eventual champions in the Edmonton Emus. The Emus had the advantage of hosting the Parallel Cup this year which meant that a lot of their team got a chance to play against the United States either in the 1st or 2nd team. The first half of the game was a very intensely disputed with both teams giving very little to the other side. Unfortunately for the Angles, some unlucky bounces saw them go into half time down by two goals, but by no means out of the game. The second half will be considered a learning experience for the Angles as the Edmontonians played a more consistent half of footy to win the game by a few goals.
After day 1, the Montreal Angles were tied for second spot in the standing with a win and a loss. The first game of the 2nd day would determine if the Angles or Roos would be playing for 3rd spot!
The first game of the second day saw the Angles play the Etobicoke Roos in an all-important game. They started off thunderously with an excellent level of intensity that took the Roos by surprise. The first half was clearly dominated by Montreal who barely allowed anything to one of the best teams in AFL Ontario. The second half was much more even and it came down to one of the last kicks of the game that sealed the Angles fate, unfortunately they were on the receiving end of a last minute goal which put the Roos over the top by 3 goals. This meant that the Montreal Angles would face off against the hosts of the tournament, the Ottawa Swans.
After playing 3 games, one would think that the Angles would be tired and that they might have left their best footy behind them. That is the complete opposite of what happened in the final game of the tournament. In what is easily the most impressive performance by Montreal that this writer has ever seen, the Angles left no prisoners on the field playing their hearts out in what is one of the most hard fought games of the tournament. After the first half, the Swans were ahead by 9 (?) points, but by no means did it show on the playing field. The ironically named Angles were by no means Saints in the second half laying tackle after tackle after tackle with every player getting involved in the action. Unfortunately, it was not to be this time, as they would eventually go down to the Swans and finish the tournament in 6th position, but that does not reflect the level at which they played.
Every single Angle can hold her head high knowing that they played some unbelievable footy until the last second, and that they game it all they got. As they say in French: “ce n’est que partie remise” because believe you me, this team is going to be something else after another year under their belts. I think we just witnessed the beginning of a dynasty.
For photos from the tournament please go to the following links. Thanks to Rob Colburn and Ping Yan for the excellent photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ping-yan/sets/72157636523373203/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/rob.colburn1/photos_albums
Last Modified on 13/06/2014 05:56