While the rest of us were freezing our tails off this past weekend the Dawson Women’s Hockey team participated in a tournament in the United States. In Washington, D.C. from February 11-15 some of the top U19 women’s hockey teams from across Canada and the U.S. took part in the 9th annual JWHL Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup is a prestigious tournament that is supported by the NHL’s Washington Capitals and attracts scouts from high level NCAA programs.

The U19 portion of the tournament had a total of 22 teams of which Dawson College and Edouard Montpetit were the only Quebec representatives. Dawson was dominant in their group games amassing victories of 7-3, 6-1 and 10-0. The only tight collar moment came in their final preliminary game, a 2-1 victory over B.C.’s Okanagan Hockey Academy. Dawson advanced undefeated to the elimination rounds.

In the semi-finals they easily disposed of their Ontario opponents, Canadian International Hockey Academy, 5-0. Just a few hours later was the finals and their opponent was NAHA White from Vermont. It was a close game in every respect. After a scoreless 1st period, in the 2nd NAHA pulled ahead 1-0. It was comeback time and Dawson’s leading scorer for the tournament, Jade Downie-Landry, scored two goals in the 3rd period to give the Blues the 2-1 victory. Jade Downie-Landry finished the tournament as the overall leading scorer with 13 goals and 4 assists for 17 points over the 6 games.