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The women’s hockey team had their first true test over the January 13 – 14 weekend when they knocked off the defending champions, Assiniboine Community College (ACC) in a two-game series at home. This is the first time the teams have faced off since ACC beat the Cougars 3-1 in pool-play at the National Championships last season.
On Friday night, it was scoreless until the last five minutes of the second period when Timmins, Ontario forward Jasmine Groleau connected with the puck off a rebound to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Both teams had multiple chances on the power play, but aggressive penalty kills resulted in neither team scoring with an extra attacker. First-year forward Emily Moore sealed the deal for the Cougars with 13 minutes left to hand ACC their first loss of the season.
Emily Hansen recorded her fifth shutout of the season, stopping 30 shots on net in the 2-0 victory.
In game two, ACC broke Hansen’s shutout early and went ahead by two goals. Second-year forward Emma Lee cruised past the ACC defenders and fired a shot top corner to close the gap before the end of the first period. ACC’s Emmalie Thompson netted her second of the game early in the second period to give ACC a 2 goal lead for the second time in the game.
This would be the first time the Cougars would trail from behind in the second period this season. It wouldn’t take long for Groleau to find an opening in the slot to make it 3-2 heading into the last 20 minutes.
Early in the third, first-year forward Alexis Armitage gave the fans something to cheer about with a jaw dropping shot from inside the blue line to tie the game at three. ACC had two power play chances late in the game, but the Cougars managed to hold them off and forced extra time. The four-on-four overtime ended in 12 seconds when the Cougars gained the zone off the faceoff and Emily Moore capitalized on a turnover, walking in alone for the game winner. Hansen made 24 saves in the win.
The Cougars are now 16-0-0 heading into a two-game series against Central Michigan University (11-1-0) on the road.
Source: Sault College Athletics
