It’s with some excitement that I’m here this morning to provide some words of congratulations to our Sault Ste. Marie Sault College Cougars women’s hockey team who, on Saturday, March 16, won their second national title in consecutive years with a 3-0 victory over the Assiniboine Community College Cougars at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Women’s Division 2 national championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

During the championship game, Emma Lee paced the offence with two goals, with Materia Land adding an insurance marker in the third. The Cougars goalie, Farrah Farstad, stopped 22 shots for the shutout.

There is a history between the Cougar squads, as the Brandon-based Cougars team had handed Sault College their only loss this season in a 4-1 setback at the Northern Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie on January 20, breaking the team’s one-and-a-half-year winning streak. That is correct; they had a one-and-a-half-year winning streak. The Brandon-based team did defeat them and break the winning streak, but ultimately, our Cougars still managed to come out on top in the finals and won their second national title.

The Cougars had gone 31-0-0 in winning their first ACHA title last season and started this season with 16 wins and a tie through 17 games, until that loss that I referenced. The Cougars went 3-0 in division pool D, with wins over Mercyhurst University, the United States Naval Academy and Northeastern University. I just want to offer them great congratulations for their second-year-in-a-row victory.

This time last Monday, the Sault College Cougars women’s hockey team was in Boston preparing to play in the final game of the playoff tournament for the American Collegiate Hockey Association Women’s Division 2 national championship. The team was set to face off against Northeastern University. After the heartbreaking 2021-22 season finish losing at the ACHA nationals, the team was hungry to bring the championship home. Going into the tournament, the team was undefeated—a perfect 30 and 0. No pressure at all.

In the game, Emily Moore scored twice, while Emma Lee, Alyssa Turcotte, Brooke Brazeau and Stephanie Pagnotta added singles for the Soo. Emily Hansen got the start in goal.

I am pleased to say that the Sault College Cougars completed the season with a 6-1 win over the Northeastern team, bringing home the trophy for the ACHA Women’s Division 2 national championship game. The Cougars finished the season with a perfect 31-0-0-0 record. The club started and finished the season on a win streak—the final number coming in at 31 consecutive wins. The closest games came when the Cougars ended up on the right side of a four-goal game, two of them coming in overtime. They scored 229 goals and allowed only 22 goals, with multiple players at the top of many statistical categories.

Congratulations to the Sault College Cougars women’s hockey team for an amazing year. Go Cougars!