Sault College success spurs the growth of girls hockey
The Sault College Women’s Hockey team is less than a month removed from its second straight ACHA W2 National Championship.
This week, the squad hosted dozens of young hockey fans for a Skate with the Champions event.
“It’s nice to be able to bring the community together,” said first- year forward Materia Land.
“The community helped us get to where we were, so it’s nice to show off the trophy a little bit and give back.”
The event included mostly female students getting autographs and photos, with the collegiate athletes helping some learn how to skate and even playing games of tag with other attendees.
Tenley Deluco, 8, said she had a great time with the older girls.
”I like skating with the team because it’s super fun,” she said.
“And when I first met them, they were like, really, really nice.”
The Sault College Women’s Hockey team is less than a month removed from its second straight ACHA W2 National Championship. This week, the squad hosted dozens of young hockey fans for a Skate with the Champions event. (Photos courtesy of Sault Girls Hockey Association)
The Sault College Women’s Hockey team is less than a month removed from its second straight ACHA W2 National Championship. This week, the squad hosted dozens of young hockey fans for a Skate with the Champions event. (Photos courtesy of Sault Girls Hockey Association)It was a goal to make memories with the kids and help motivate them to follow their own hockey dreams.
“They look up to us and we just want to tell them to just keep going and follow their dreams and just work hard and you'll get to where you want to go,” and third-year forward and ACHA W2 Tournament MVP Emma Lee.
“When I was younger I always looked up to the older girls,” Land added.
“I always wanted to be them and skate with them, so I definitely know it means something to them.”
Olivia Deluco, 10, said she wants to follow the same path as the back-to-back champions.
Have become mentors
“Winning championships several times is really impressive,” she said.
“It definitely makes me want to play more. It makes me feel more comfortable and seeing how like, how they do things, it just helps me learn all the skills they do.”
Young goaltender Brooke Storey said she had met some of the players before.
“Some of them have been to my class and have worked with us on the ice,” she said. “It’s really cool.”
Cougars head coach Brianne Shunock said some of her players have become mentors to those in attendance.
“I hope they realize the impact they’re having on these girls,” Shunock said.
Sault Girls Hockey Association Spokesperson Kaylee Hunter said the Cougars went above and beyond all year long.
“They ran the skill camp for us at the Northern Ontario Women’s Hockey League playoff tournament that we hosted locally,” Hunter said.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“They showed up to our Jr. Greyhound girls’ final games with signs in hand to cheer them on. They came out on the ice for our free ‘Try All Girls Timbits Hockey’ event.”
Hunter said that because of the success and support from the Sault College Cougars – along with the inception of the Professional Women’s Hockey League -- the association expects enrolment to be up in all divisions next year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.