Perfect season capped off with national title for Sault College

Their 31st consecutive win was easily their biggest.

The Sault College women’s hockey team capped off an undefeated season on Monday morning with a 6-1 win over Northeastern University to win the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 women’s national championship.

With the victory, Sault College ended the season with 31 consecutive victories.

Their last loss was in pool play at the 2022 tournament when they dropped a 3-1 decision to Assiniboine Community College, who won the national title last season.

Prior to the tournament, Sault College coach Brianne Shunock said the team was going into this year’s tournament with one thing on their mind. Winning.

“If we compare last year to this year, last year we were really just excited to attend nationals. This year, there’s a lot that’s expected of us,” Shunock said. “We’re going to the tournament and everyone knows who we are this year. We’re the only undefeated team in the ACHA, so going in, a lot of teams are probably excited to play us to (try) to break our undefeated streak.”

Against Northeastern, Sault College opened up a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes and broke the game open with three more goals in the second period en route to the win.

Sault College struck first as Emily Moore jumped on a loose puck in the left faceoff circle and beat Northeastern goaltender Nora McGowan glove side at 7:56. Moore grabbed the puck after Brooke Brazeau skated the puck into traffic in the circle.

Emma Lee made it a 2-0 game as she took a pass from Meagan Daley on a 2-on-1 and beat McGowan 2:17 later to extend the lead.

Moore picked up her second of the day with a power play marker as she took a pass in the left circle from Emily Brunet below the goalline and beat McGowan glove side at 12:46.

Northeastern got on the board late in the period as Abigale Lamontagne took a pass in the slot from Maeve Hiehle behind the net after a turnover ad beat Sault College goaltender Emily Hansen with a backhand glove with 2:47 to go in the opening period.

Sault College restored the three-goal lead early in the second period as Alyssa Turcotte beat McGowan from just inside the right circle stick side 1:09 into the period to make it a 4-1 game.

Brooke Brazeau made it 5-1 just 53 seconds later as she deflected a shot by Alyssa Byers from the top of the left circle past McGowan after it was partially blocked on its way to the net.

Stephanie Pagnotta picked up her first goal of the tournament as she took a pass from Lee and beat Northeastern goaltender Hannah Slaiby with 3:22 to go in the period to make it a 6-1 game. Slaiby entered the game in goal for Northeastern after a timeout just over four minutes into the period to replace McGowan.

Sault College advanced to the tournament final thanks to a win over Dakota College on Sunday. Lee had three points for Sault College in a 3-0 win in the semi-final.

Sault College went 3-0 in pool play – grabbing wins over Rowan University in game one, the University of Deleware in game two, and Providence College in game three – to grab top spot and advance to the final four as a result.

Northeastern booked a spot in Monday’s final thanks to a 2-1 double overtime win over Assiniboine in Sunday’s other semi-final game.