Ice-O-Topes battle for Iceland Cup
Vancouver women’s hockey team undefeated until championship final
A team picture of Vancouver’s Ice-O-Topes women’s hockey team in their “third jersey”.
Photograph by: Submitted picture , for the Courier
As the only Vancouver women’s hockey team to compete at the Iceland International Ice Hockey Cup, the Ice-O-Topes won three in a row but lost the championship to a host team stacked with national players.
The annual Iceland Cup was held Oct. 5 to 7 in Reykjavik.
Winning all three of their group-stage games in the elite-A division, the Topes beat the eventual champion Iceland Red 3-2. They defeated a second Canadian team from Toronto 3-1 and another Icelandic host 3-2. The Torontonian Women of Winter were in Iceland for the third time.
In the final, Iceland Red answered back and shut out the Ice-O-Topes to win the cup 1-0.
Three-time Olympian and national team goaltender Sami Jo Small attended this Iceland Cup to promote women’s hockey.
For the final, the Topes wore their “third jersey,” which by no coincident looks like a chicken costume and was first laid on Halloween five years ago by team captain Shan Saunders. One player wrote to tell me they do this, “mostly for fun and partially because it confuses our competition.”
Goaltender Megan Spahan is dressed as the yellow-yolked egg.
Twitter: @MHStewart
A team picture of Vancouver’s Ice-O-Topes women’s hockey team in their “third jersey”.
Photograph by: Submitted picture , for the Courier
