Team Sonnet bounces back with 4-3 win over Team Bauer at Secret Cup

CALGARY — It was a bounce-back win for Team Sonnet at the Secret Cup women’s hockey tournament in Calgary. 

Jamie Lee Rattray scored the eventual winner while Shea Tiley stopped 27 shots as Toronto’s Sonnet squad rebounded from a tournament-opening loss to beat Team Bauer 4-3 on Thursday

Nicole Kosta, Victoria Bach and Natalie Spooner also scored for Toronto (2-1-0), which dropped a 3-2 decision against Montreal’s Bauer team on Monday. 

“I think every game here is a battle,” said Bach “Every time we get a chance to step on the ice we have to leave it out there.”

“Shea played unreal. Some of the saves she made, we were pretty hyped on the bench.”

Marie-Philip Poulin, Rebecca Leslie and Laura Stacey — with a short-handed goal — found the back of the net for Montreal (2-1-0). Genevieve Lacasse made 21 saves in defeat.

Team Bauer also topped Calgary 6-1 on Tuesday to open the tournament with two victories. Calgary’s Team Scotiabank (0-2-0) dropped an 8-3 decision Wednesday against Toronto and will attempt to capture its first win Friday against Montreal.

“First game we played Montreal was the first game for most people in over a year. We were rusty with some habits,” said Tiley. 

Three teams of 20 players in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association’s three Canadian hubs of Calgary, Toronto and Montreal are playing to hoist the Secret Cup trophy Sunday at Scotiabank Saddledome. 

The PWHPA is a movement arising from the collapse of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League two years ago. The PWHPA includes members of the Canadian and U.S. national teams. 

Their goal is a sustainable league with a living wage and the competitive supports the men’s professional leagues have. 

The last time PWHPA games were played in Canada before Monday was Jan. 11-12, 2020 in Toronto. 

Of the 28 players invited to try out for Canada’s Olympic team starting this summer, 21 are Secret Cup participants. 

The teams play each other twice in a round robin with results augmented by a points system. 

A win is worth two points, an overtime win 1.5, a shootout win one point, and half a point for an overtime or shootout loss. 

A short-handed goal, hat trick, shutout, or scoring five goals or more in a game is each worth one additional point. 

Montreal has seven points thanks to Stacey’s short-handed marker in Thursday’s loss, Toronto has six points while Calgary is still pointless. 

The two teams with the most points at the end of the round robin Saturday advance to Sunday’s final. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2021.

The Canadian Press