Sault College women's hockey team chasing second-straight national title

While it’s appeared to come easy, Sault College’s women’s American Collegiate Hockey Association entry isn’t taking anything for granted.

The team will play in the ACHA division II national championship in St. Louis this week, marking the third consecutive season the team has made the big dance.

After just missing out on getting into the playoff round in their first appearance, Sault College capped off the 2022-23 season with a perfect record and won the national championship thanks to a 6-1 win over Northeastern University in the title game.

Sault College opens up play in this year’s tournament on Tuesday afternoon against Mercyhurst.

For Sault College coach Brianne Shunock, this season has meant some adjustments to systems and style of play as the team saw a shift to first-year players following graduation after last season’s national championship win.

“It’s crazy to think that the last three years, we’ve attended nationals,” Shunock said. “A lot of that has to do with our graduating players who started in the first year of us going to nationals and building the program to where it is right now. With us having almost half our team being first years this year, we had to go back to the drawing board on what type of systems were going to work for us.”

Shunock added that the lengthy winning streak put together by the team, one that began with the opening game of the 2022-23 season and run until a 4-1 loss to Assiniboine in January and lasted for over 40 games, also meant a readjustment for the team as the focus was on returning to the national championship again this season.

“If anything, (the loss) helped us take a deep breath and focus on nationals and not just on a record,” Shunock said.

Shunock added that games like a pair against Assiniboine mixed in during the season took on an added importance as the team faced some top-level competition that resembles what they will see at the national championship.

“The most important thing about a skilled player is they want competition,” Shunock said. “They thrive off of those games. As soon as the puck dropped, the noticed the intensity, the speed, the strength of the other teams. They rose to that level.”

The 2023-24 season has been one in which the Sault College coaching staff added roles in order to help the players, many of whom are new to the ACHA scene as first-year players.

The team added staff to help with its on-ice performance as well as adding the role of student success coach to one of the current staff members. The student success coach works with the players academically as well as personally, including areas such as mental health.

“(Things like mental health) impacts their on-ice performance as well,” Shunock said.

Sault College earned the national championship berth after winning their regional tournament in late February. The team skated to a 12-0 win over Michigan State in the regional semi-final before beating Adrian College in the regional final by a 4-0 margin.

Following Tuesday’s national championship opener, Sault College will face Navy on Wednesday before wrapping up round robin play on Thursday with a game against Northeastern.