HALIFAX—Fresh off her national midget hockey win, M’Chigeeng’s Deidre Debassige is coming home with a silver medal around her neck from her fantastic showing with Team Ontario at the National Aboriginal Hockey Championships held in Halifax from April 27 to May 2.
Team Ontario beat Team Eastern Door and the North by a score of 5-2, then went on to beat Team Atlantic 8-0 and British Columbia 4-0, placing them first in the round robin play. In the quarter-finals, Team Ontario beat Team North 6-1, then faced semi-finals against Alberta with a win 3-1 taking Team Ontario into the gold medal game.
After a slow start, the girls finished the championship game with a score of 3-2 for Saskatchewan. Although they outplayed and outshot Saskatchewan in the second and third period, they could just not place the puck in then net, placing them with a silver medal win for the second straight year.
Manitoulin was well represented on the Team Ontario squad as Deidre was joined with two other Island girls, Cheyenne Bates-Saucier, hailing from Wikwemikong, and Tasza Thibault-Tarnowski, with ties to Gore Bay, who played for the Ottawa Lady Senators AA.
