Back-to-back: Sault College retains national women's hockey title

It was a measure of revenge, making the win a little bit sweeter.

The Sault College women’s hockey team captured their second consecutive American Collegiate Hockey Association national championship Saturday afternoon thanks to a 3-0 win over Assiniboine Community College.

For Sault College, the win was a little bit of revenge as well.

The two schools met in non-conference play in Sault Ste. Marie for a pair of games in January. After Sault College won the opener, Assiniboine beat Sault College in the second game, ending Sault College’s 46-game unbeaten streak in the process.

SAULT COLLEGE COUGARS ARE YOUR 2024 WOMENS D2 CHAMPIONS 🏆@cougarswhky @ACHAHockey @hockeyhousepod @FloHockey pic.twitter.com/SG3zJrQa2R

— ACHA Women's D2 (@achawomensd2) March 16, 2024

In Saturday’s national championship game, Sault College wasted little time opening the scoring in the second period after the teams skated through a scoreless opening frame.

After Assiniboine took a penalty 19 seconds into the middle stanza, Emma Lee gave Sault College the lead 13 seconds into the power play. Lee beat Assiniboine goaltender Geneva Penner with a shot from the left faceoff circle high glove side.

Lee scored her second of the day midway through the period. Skating around behind the Assiniboine net, Lee gave the puck to Emily Moore, who proceeded to hit Lee with a pass as she skated into the slot. Lee then beat Penner with a shot stick side to make it a 2-0 game at 10:39.

With just under nine minutes to go in the game, Materia Land picked up her third goal of the playoff round for Sault College. Skating in on a 2-on-1 with Moore, Land took a pass while going to the net and beat Penner to cap off the scoring.

Sault College goaltender Farrah Farstad stopped all 22 shots she faced in the win to pick up the shutout.

Along with the two-goal day from Lee, Land had a goal and an assist for Sault College while Moore assisted on a pair of goals.

Penner made 30 saves for Assiniboine in the loss.

Sault College advanced to Saturday’s final thanks to a 6-1 win over Dakota College at Bottineau yesterday.

The team finished pool play with a 3-0 record to get into the playoff round, picking up wins over Mercyhurst, Navy, and Northeastern in the process.