| Crusaders
Girls Hockey
Sacred Heart Captures OFSAA Gold
Sacred Heart Crusaders captured the girls hockey provincial championship
on March 27, in Brampton with a 3-1 victory over Petrolia's Lambton
Central Collegiate. It was the team's sixth game of the tournament;
an event that saw the girls grow stronger with each game.
The Crusaders entered the tournament seeded 16 out of 16 teams,
after earning a late additional entry to the championships. On Tuesday,
March 25th they opened the tourney with a scoreless draw
against last year's gold medallists, and number one seed, from Uxbridge.
Ashley Turcotte earned the shutout aided by strong defence and an
awesome team effort. Later in the day, the Walkerton girls shutout
Quinte Saints from Belleville with a 2-0 victory. Jennelle Stam
backstopped the Crusaders with 3rd period goals netted
by Krista Cameron, unassisted and Melissa Dugas scoring two minutes
later assisted by Leah Skinner and Holly Kuntz.
Wednesday morning arrived and the Crusaders took on a tough Lambton
Central squad from Petrolia, to close out pool play. Action was
back and forth throughout but Lamton's 2nd period goal
proved the winner in the 1-0 game. Sacred Heart's stingy defence
proved to be the difference and Walkerton advanced to the quarter
finals based on a better goal differential compared to Uxbridge.
The quarter finals were against perennial counterparts, Centre
Wellington Falcons from Fergus whose goalie had proved to be the
Crusader nemesis the past two seasons including in the 1-0 CWOSSA
victory by Fergus. Coach Mario Turcotte fired up the Sacred Heart
team in a pregame talk, followed by upbeat music from the 80s and
the girls did the rest. Melissa Dugas, and many of her teammates,
shadowed Fergus's top player so closely that the opponent's jersey
was half red from Dugas's persistent guarding. The Crusaders forechecked
the opponents into submission and Katie Weber poked home the eventual
winner with 3:50 remaining in the first period. Krista Cameron earned
the assist. Jennelle Stam stoned Fergus the rest of the way and
the Crusaders were just "too strong" for all future opponents from
this point on.
Thursday morning, Sacred Heart took on Jean Vanier from Collingwood
in the semi-finals. The Jean Vanier Storm may have received the
press from "The New VR" but they also experienced the full ice press
from the Crusader attack. After falling behind 1-0 in the first,
Sacred Heart rallied with 3 goals within 2 minutes in the second
period to take a 3-1 lead. Thirty seconds later Jean Vanier replied
to make it a 3-2 game. The Crusaders were not to be denied and all
three lines played outstanding for Sacred Heart to withstand all
attacks from Vanier and to pressure the Storm goalie at the same
time. An empty net goal with 17 seconds remaining sent Sacred Heart
to the gold medal game with the 4-2 victory! Goal scorers were Holly
Kuntz from Tiara Gowland; Katrina Diebel from Colleen Kieffer and
Krista Cameron with two unassisted goals.
As this was the first official OFSAA Girls Hockey Championships,
after completing four years of "Festival" status, the host Mount
Carmel school and its organization had done many class acts to make
this a memorable event. The banquet was fabulous, pictures were
numerous throughout the tournament, the guest speaking Mayors of
Brampton and Mississauga greatly promoted the women's hockey game
and Ron Ellis, of Maple Leaf fame had a special announcement. He
announced that a game-worn jersey from the gold medal team would
be placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame. This fired up the Crusaders
and they decided that if they won, the player who scored the winning
goal, would have their jersey enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
The final game was Thursday afternoon at the Brampton Entertainment
Centre, home of the Battalion of the OHL and the Brampton Thunder
of the NWHL. It turned out to be a rematch against Lambton Central.
The Crusaders did not want to lose out on history and played the
game of their lives. With 6:16 left in the second period Krista
Cameron broke free and converted on the hard efforts of Katie Weber
and Meagan Harper to put the Crusaders ahead. Again, the tight checking
of the opponent's stars was requested and Leah Skinner and the rest
of the Crusaders responded, shutting down Petrolia chances time
and again. With 8:42 remaining, Cameron scored again to put the
Crusaders ahead 2 nil. Harper assisted as did Katrina Diebel. Just
past the five minute mark Lambton did beat Stam in net to make the
game close at 2-1. However, Sacred Heart was not to be denied and
Laura Grubb notched her first ever empty net goal with less than
a minute to play to send the team, and the crowd of supportive parents
and grandparents, into a frenzy and to earn the Crusaders the OFSAA
gold medal. Krista's jersey will be signed by the entire team and
sent to the Hall of Fame.
The victory was especially sweet for graduating players Holly Kuntz,
Christine Fortney, Leah Skinner, Jenn Wilhelm, Ashley Turcotte,
Melissa Dugas who played for the Crusaders throughout their high
school careers and had come so close before. It is great for all
members of the team and for those who helped in any way throughout
the season. The coaches would like to thank the parents for their
support throughout the year and thank the administration, staff
and students of Sacred Heart, the Bruce Grey Catholic District School
Board, the community media, the Brockton recreation department,
our local referees, Rob and all others involved for their support
this year.
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