Blazing a trail for women’s hockey
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This article was published 22/03/2019 (2374 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Balmoral Hall School hockey team wrapped up its season with a historic win earlier this month.
The Blazers beat the top-ranked team in their division on March 10 to win their first championship since joining the international Junior Women’s Hockey League in 2008.
“We were definitely the underdogs,” head coach and Balmoral alumna Sarah Zacharias said. “It was pure ecstasy and pure bliss and also shock; I don’t think it really hit the girls until a few days later.”
The 3-2 overtime win against Vermont’s North American Hockey Academy (NAHA) was only the second time the Blazers had beaten the American team in the last 13 years — and Balmoral Hall’s road to the final game was far from straight.
After losing in the first round of the JWHL’s playoffs the Blazers had to score a minimum of eight goals in their second game to move on from their pool with the highest goal differential.
“They could’ve easily chalked it up to ‘That’s impossible,’ and just sent it in and played our last game. Instead they came out firing,” Zacharias said. “We just scored goal after goal after goal. They actually scored four goals in under two minutes, which is incredible.”
The girls ended up beating the Boston Shamrocks 9-0 to move on to the semi final.
Grade 12 Balmoral Hall defender Kennesha Miswaggon scored the championship-winning overtime goal against NAHA.
“I got a piece of it and wrapped it around and it hit the back of the goalie’s leg and it just went in,” she said. “It was just unbelievable, it was a great feeling.”
“Leading up to the championship game I had so much confidence in my team that I just had a feeling that we were gonna win it.”
Miswaggon has committed to playing hockey at the University of British Columbia next year.
At the beginning of the season, Zacharias and assistant coach Regan Boulton made a list of five lofty goals for the Blazers, including finishing the year .500+; defeating NAHA; sweeping a JWHL regular-season weekend; finishing the regular season as one of the top two JWHL teams; and winning a JWHL championship in 2019.
The team managed to accomplish each and every one of those goals.
“To achieve all five goals… I think it goes to show that this team really was something special,” said goaltender Megan Schroeder.
In the final against NAHA, Schroeder faced 41 shots on goal.
“She stood on her head, had the game of her life and made some really impeccable saves for us, which allowed us to stay in the game,” Zacharias said of the Grade 12 goaltender.
The end of the season also marks the end of Schroeder’s elite-level hockey career, as she heads off to university next year to focus on pre-med.
“Bittersweet would be the way to describe it but it’s ending on a high note and I’m really happy about that,” she said.
Blazers captain Olivia Cvar had the assist on the game winner against NAHA.
“The puck was just sitting on the line and (Kennesha) tapped it in and we kind of looked at each other… It was hard to believe.” said Cvar, who will be playing NCAA Divison I hockey at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn., next year.
Beyond the talent on the bench, Zacharias chalks the team’s success up to culture of positivity and support in the dressing room and beyond.
“We’re really big believers that we’re a family and it’s not just a hockey team,” she said.
For Cvar, that description rings true.
“We had a really good group this year and all the girls are so amazing and they make me want to be a better person and a better player,” she said.