Hockey

Jayna Hefford continued to show her incredible touch around the net with another hat trick -- including the shootout winner -- as Canada's Olympic women's hockey team earned a 5-4 win over the Calgary Royals on Wednesday night in its pre-Olympic series of training games versus Midget AAA boys' teams.

Caroline Ouellette (Montreal, Que.) and Sarah Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, Que.) also scored in the shootout for Canada in Calgary, Alta.

Hefford's second goal of the game, 2:02 into the third period, looked to be an insurance goal for the Canadians, but the Royals scored three goals in a span of 3:20 to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead within four minutes of the Hefford goal.

With time ticking down, Hefford snapped a shot through the pads of Calgary goaltender James D'Andrea with 5:24 to go to complete her hat trick and force overtime.

Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.) scored the other goal for Canada, while netminder Gina Kingsbury (Châteauguay, Que.) made 30 saves in regulation and turned away Royals captain Brad Buckingham on the final shot of the shootout to preserve the win.

Canada plays its final game of the midget series on Friday. The team's first Olympic game is Feb. 13 in Vancouver versus Slovakia.