Sault College off to national championship game

They’re going to get a chance for some revenge, and this time with a national championship on the line.

Sault College’s women’s hockey team has advanced to the American Collegiate Hockey Association national championship title game thanks to a 6-1 win over Dakota College at Bottineau on Friday evening in St. Louis.

Sault College will take on Assiniboine Community College in Saturday’s title game, facing the only team to beat them this season.

Sault College opened the scoring in Friday as Marie-Pier Lecours scored on a rebound in close after a pair of chances by Jasmie Groleau were unsuccessful at 15:46 of the opening period. Just under three minutes later, Materia Land went to the net and scored on a pass from Emily Moore to make it a 2-0 game.

Sault College took a 3-0 lead 5:35 into the second period as Materia Land beat Dakota goaltender Kara Zelyck with a shot stick side on a second chance in close.

Dakota got on the board at 11:47 of the second period as Jayden Carels scored on the power play, beating Sault College goaltender Cassidy Dobson with a shot from the right wing through traffic to make it 3-1.

Lecours responded for Sault College just under three minutes later as she deflected an Alyssa Byers shot from in close past Zelyck on the power play.

Sault College made it  5-1 Sault College 4:37 into the third period as Groleau redirected a pass in close from Lecours past Zelyck.

Zoe Weaver extended the Sault College lead further at 6:09 as she deflected a shot in close from Amelia Williams past Zelyck.

Lecours finished the night with two goals and an assist to pace Sault College offensively.

In addition to the two-goal night for Land, Groleau had a goal and an assist while Byers and Amelia Bois assisted on a pair of goals each for Sault College.

Dobson stopped 17 shots for Sault College in goal.

Zelyck made 47 saves for Dakota in the loss.

Friday was the second meeting of the season between the two schools. Sault College beat Dakota 5-0 in Sault Ste. Marie on Jan. 20.

Assiniboine advanced to the final thanks to a 5-2 win over Providence in Friday’s early semifinal game. After falling behind 2-1 late in the opening period, Assiniboine scored four unanswered goals en route to the win.

Sault College and Assiniboine split a pair of meetings this season between the two schools. The teams played a pair of non-conference games during a January weekend in the Sault that also saw the two teams play games against Dakota. Sault College beat Assiniboine on Jan. 19 by a 5-2 margin before dropping a 4-1 decision on Jan. 20.

The two schools also met during round robin play in the 2022 national championship tournament, a game Assiniboine won to advance to the playoff round as they won the national championship, beating Dakota Bottineau in the final.