‘The place was packed’: More than 5,000 people attend U18 women’s world hockey final

The gold medal wasn’t in the cards for Team Canada at the World Under-18 Women’s Hockey Championship in Cape Breton.

More than 5,000 people – one of the biggest crowds ever at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S. – came decked out in red and white for Sunday night’s gold medal game that pitted Canada against the United States in the World U-18 Women’s Hockey Championship.

The United States won 2-0.

The excitement may have been extra special for the three Maritime players on the Canadian team.

“I’m from a small community, too, so to have everyone come out and support, I feel, like, was pretty amazing,” said Jaylee MacKinnon, who hails from Clark’s Harbour, N.S.

For years, Cape Breton has been among the country’s leaders when it comes to the growth of female hockey. For the girls in the stands throughout the 10-day tournament, to see their local arena filled to the rafters for the finale was vindicating, if not surprising.

“To be honest, I’ve felt for a long time that this day was coming,” said Christina Lamey, president of the Cape Breton Blizzard female hockey program. “(I) really wish we could have had a goal to really hear the crowd that was there, but the place was packed and I hope everybody went home thinking they want more of this.”

“We will definitely look at Cape Breton again,” said Katherine Henderson, president and CEO of Hockey Canada.

While Cape Breton does not have a facility with the seating capacity of Scotiabank Centre in Halifax or the Avenir Centre in Moncton, Henderson said the Island’s support of the U-18 event suggests the market is capable of hosting something even bigger.

“I think if you’re taking a look at (the Women’s World Hockey Championship), we certainly could look at the province of Nova Scotia,” Henderson said. “They’ve done really well, and often we share with cities when we’re doing larger events so we could certainly take a look at Sydney being part of larger events.”

Despite the disappointing loss, Canadian forward Kendall Doiron, from Boylston, N.S., said to play on the world stage on home soil is something she will remember.

“Especially (the) little girls that kind of were in my shoes at one point, seeing them in the crowd and cheering me on with the signs,” Doiron said.

“Obviously the fans have something to do with that, but probably the team and the people I got to meet on this team and share this experience with,” MacKinnon said. “That’s probably what I’ll take with me.”

The third Maritimer on Team Canada – Megan Mossey of Charlottetown – was named to the tournament all-star team.

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