Martlets win Humes
The Stingers’ Sophie Beaudry battles with Marianne Waite, of St. Thomas University, in the Jan. 5 game of the Theresa Humes Tournament. The Concordia women’s squad won that one 4-1.
Photo by Corey Narsted
The Concordia Stingers came close to pulling off a second major upset at the 39th annual Theresa Humes Women’s Hockey Tournament last weekend, but in the end had to settle for second place to Canada’s top-ranked team, the McGill Martlets.
“This tournament means a lot to us,” said Martlets rookie Caroline Hill, who set up the game-winning goal in the 3-1 win that gave McGill its first-ever Humes title. “We treated it as our biggest games of the year so far.”
The intensity of the final, not to mention every other game, is a sign of the prestige associated with what is widely regarded as the top university women’s hockey tournament. The event is named after Theresa Humes, who was the Director of Women’s Athletics at Concordia from 1976 to 1984 and played a big role in developing the tournament into what it is today.
A recent article in the Gazette by David Yates highlighted Humes’ contributions, such as getting proper hockey skates for some girls who only had figure skates, and suggested that Humes should be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder.
Concordia head coach Les Lawton believes that within the next five years, the Hall will (finally) start choosing people who advanced women’s hockey instead of exclusively men, and that Humes would make a great candidate.
“She was our voice at the administrative level,” Lawton noted. “It was important to have someone who was going to represent our athletes and our staff, and she just made sure that the women were treated the way they should be treated.”
Lawton added that thanks to Concordia’s history of paving the way for the growth in women’s hockey, there is a decent chance that one of their own would be considered for the Hall.
“We’ve done some wonderful things to develop the game at the grassroots and the university level,” he said. “We held the first-ever under-18 national championship in 1993. We hosted the first CIS national championships in 1998 and we’ve had players who have represented countries at the international level.”
And of course there’s the annual tradition that takes place around the holidays featuring the top university teams. “I think we’re probably the oldest women’s tournament in the world,” Lawton said. They’re planning to do something special to celebrate the 40th anniversary next year.
He’s hoping that the 2008 tournament can be held in conjunction with CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada, with some of the great players who participated over the years in attendance.
This year’s young Stingers struggled early in the season, but won their last game before the holiday break and continued that upswing with a superb effort last weekend.
“I thought we gained some confidence as a team and built a little character,” Lawton said, adding that the adjustment to the demands that are now expected of women’s hockey players had been difficult for many of the new faces on this year’s squad. “That’s all behind us now and I really think we’re going to have a much more successful second half and our players will be much more comfortable both on and off the ice.”
Meggy Hatin-Léveillée was named the top goaltender of the tournament for the second year in a row. Her crowning performance came in Concordia’s 1-0 semi-final win over the sixth-ranked Toronto Varsity Blues when she blocked all 38 shots directed her way.