CSLR Renards are the champions

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This article was published 19/03/2018 (2952 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To say the girls’ hockey team at Centre scolaire Léo-Rémillard had a standout debut season in the Winnipeg Women’s High School Hockey League might be something of an understatement.

On March 9 at Dakota Community Centre, the CSLR Renards beat the Sanford Sabres 6-4 to win the best-of-three Winnipeg Free Press Division 2 final series in straight games. The Renards won the first game on March 7 by a score of 2-1 after a nail-biting shootout.

“It’s a little bit surprising, as we weren’t expecting to get to the finals, but it feels great,” Justin Maitre, the team’s head coach, told The Lance.

“On our team, we have experienced players, newer players, and some ringette players, so it’s a good mix. Our goal this season was to keep focusing on getting better and better, and we pulled it off. It’s been very exciting.”

Maitre said that players on the team with ringette backgrounds learned on their feet and adapted to the demands of hockey quickly.

“Of course, they were all strong skaters to start with, and they adapted to our style of play, which was pretty fantastic,” Maitre said.

“We were able to defend well and reliably, and did a good job defensively. Offensively, we had had four or five players who shared the responsibility, and as a collective unit, our shared responsibility was 100 per cent. Luckily, we had a fairly fast team, and we were able to create chances and cause turnovers.”

Maitre said that, while beating larger schools with bigger student populations certainly “wasn’t the be all and end all,” it was nevertheless a satisfying way to end the season.

Maitre hopes the team will be able repeat its championship-winning feat next season but he knows there is a lot more hard work on the horizon for the Dakota Crossing-based school.

“It will be tough to be repeat champions, but we’ll be trying to do it as a sophomore team. In fact, I’m feeling a little bit of pressure already. We’ll try again to stay focused throughout the season and prepare for another run at it,” he said.

“The team had a lot of fun this season, and it’s a tight-knit group of girls from our Grade 9 to Grade 12 players. Everyone brought such a positive attitude to the table this season, and we’ll work hard again next season using that bond and camaraderie, and hopefully really push on.”