Yeah, I spent the second half of yesterday all depressed. I feel bad for Mandy Leveille, as she really didn't have a good game (allowed multiple soft goals). But she's only a Soph and is going to come back stronger than ever next year.
Though I had to love this little tidbit: “We deserve to bring this [championship] home,” Shannon MacAulay said. “Our league is just as good as the West league, in my opinion.”
No, Shannon, it's not even close. From top to bottom the WCHA is light-years ahead of the East. What this demonstrated is how hard it is to win three championships in a row during single elimination tournaments. Clarkson played well, and deserved their hardware, but to elevate them to the level of the West? Going to have to do it a heck of a lot more than once.
Though after my day of mourning I am now looking forward to next year. After being disappointed, I pity the teams that have to play them. They are only graduating 4 seniors, and are going to have some very skilled players stepping into their shoes. To their blue line they are adding Minnesota's Ms. Hockey Sydney Baldwin and returning Olympian Lee Stecklein. And, of course, also returning from Olympic centralization is the best woman's player in the world right now: Amanda Kessel. That's 101 points being added to a team that only lost twice this entire year.
I think another perfect season is a genuine possibility.
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