The
N.A.P.H.A. (North American PowerHockey Association) PowerHockey Cup is a tournament that happens every 2 years, where teams from across Canada (Toronto (
TPWHL &
CEWHA),
Calgary,
Manitoba,
Ottawa, London, Ont.) and USA (
Michigan,
Minnesota,
Philadelphia,
North Carolina) compete for the championship. It's pretty much PowerHockey's Stanley Cup. The teams consists of players from their respective leagues, for example the Toronto team has players from the TPWHL the league I play for.
I was fortunate to play in the PowerHockey Cup twice for the Toronto Lake Raiders; I'm thankful for the TPWHL giving me a chance to go. I made my tournament debut in 2008, where we went down to Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was really exciting to play in the tournament for the first time. Even though my team finished 4th, it was still a great experience. The tournament game I found out is a lot more intense than the regular league games. Highlights for me was when we won against two tough Minnesota teams in the round robin;
4-1 vs the Saints and
2-1 vs the veteran Minnesota Stars.
Then in 2010, my team was the host team where we played at Ryerson University in Toronto. We started off the tournament slow with a 1-2 record in pool play. But our game improved in the quarter-final where we defeated the Calgary Selects
5-1 to advance to the next round. In the semi-final, we lost to a talented Michigan Mustangs team. With the lost we had to settle for the Bronze medal game against the Minnesota Stars, who beat us earlier in pool play 3-0. However being the host team we still had a lot to play for and it was important to us. We Won the Bronze medal in the end with a spirited and inspired effort by the entire team in the 3-1 victory. Our team was led by a hattrick from Michelle Du Boulay, one of the best players in the game. You can watch the game
here. The eventual winners was the Minnesota Saints, and Meghan Hines from my team won Best Defence for the second straight tournament. Playing in the PowerHockey Cup 2010 was a proud moment in my life for sure!
Read what my teammate Goalie Eli Shupak had to say about the 2010 tournament, and playing in memory of a former teammate.
I would love to play in another PowerHockey Cup if given the opportunity, which I'll work hard for. But if not that's okay because I'm glad I got to experience it and my league the TPWHL has a lot of great goalies, who will represent Toronto well.
In the end I would like to thank my family for their support. Without them I wouldn't be able to play in the tournament.
Go Lake Raiders Go!
