Olympiens triumph

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This article was published 18/03/2022 (1445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Less than 24 hours after losing a heartbreaker in double-overtime, the Collège Jeanne-Sauvé Olympiens responded with an A-plus performance to capture the Winnipeg Women’s High School Hockey League’s top prize.

Led by a two-goal showing from star forward Norah Collins, CJS took down the J.H. Bruns Broncos 3-0 in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Division 1 championship series Thursday night at Bell MTS Iceplex.

It’s the first women’s hockey title for CJS since the 2015-16 campaign and the first WWHSHL championship awarded since the St. Mary’s Flames won in 2019-20 as last season was cancelled owing to the pandemic.

“It feels so good. It’s such a great way to wrap up the past four years of high school,” said CJS team captain and Grade 12 forward Hannah Sobkow.

“It’s really a great group of girls. We worked so hard for this and it’s a great reward to come out on top.”

The Olympiens dominated the league from the start to finish and end the year with a 27-1-1 total record. They outscored their opponents 112-38 in the regular season.

“I feel really proud of this team. Being one of the captains and helping lead the team to this makes me feel really proud,” said Grade 11 forward Annika Devine, who scored the game’s first goal Thursday.

“Especially since the last time we had a season, I was in Grade 9 and we were near the bottom the entire time. Now staying in first place for the entire season feels really good.”

The No. 3-seeded Broncos were major underdogs in the series, but they gave CJS all they could handle. A major reason for that was the play of Bruns goaltender Katrina Johnston who was the star of the team’s five-period 3-2 victory on Wednesday to keep the series alive.

“Katrina’s definitely the backbone of this team,” said Bruns captain Emma-Rae Wallis. “…She’s always blowing us away and has kept us in many games.”

The senior netminder was sharp again Thursday, but CJS had too much firepower as they outshot Bruns 36-12. Stephanie Beaudet got the shutout for the Olympiens.

“I think in Game 2 they weren’t really expecting us to come out as hard as we did and they were definitely shocked. But today, they were a little more ready. We played our best game, though,” said Wallis, a Grade 11 defenceman.

Despite going home with silver medals, the Broncos can hold their heads high as they’re new to playing with the WWHSHL’s cream of the crop. The program’s best result in recent history was a Division 2 finals appearance in 2016-17. A pair of impressive rookies in defenceman Avery Lazarenko, who scored the game-winner in Game 2, and forward Sophia Heidinger were also crucial to Bruns soaring to new heights.

“I’m so proud. We weren’t really sure if we were going to make it this far cause this is our first year in Division 1, at least with this group of girls,” Wallis said.

“We definitely have a difference of skill on this team so it’s really great that we could all come together and click.”

The Olympiens, who could also be a force next season as they only have three seniors on the roster, were incredibly emotional after the Game 2 loss, as several players were on the bench with tears in their eyes. But they quickly put that behind them as their game was on another level in Game 3.

“The message after Game 2 was ‘This is a sucky feeling and you’re going to feel crappy right now, but once you leave the dressing room, it’s over.’ At school today, the girls were going and getting their friends up and they were very excited to prove to Bruns that we deserved the championship and that we’re more than just one player,” said CJS head coach Melissa Blaine.

The one player Blaine’s referring to is the league’s third highest scorer, Collins, who left the game immediately after scoring with four minutes left in the second frame to make it 3-0. Collins, who’s taking her talents to the Manitoba Bisons in the fall, had to skip out on the third period and trophy celebration to make a practice with her triple-A team, the Winnipeg Avros, who are in the middle of their post-season. But to her school’s credit, CJS continued their strong play after their main offensive threat skated off the ice.

“It’s a team game. We were rolling all three lines all game and I’m just so proud of these girls,” Blaine said. “They worked so hard and it was an all around team effort today.”

With that said, Collins was quite the difference-maker. She finished the series with five goals as she scored a hat-trick in Game 1’s 4-0 win.

“Oh yeah, she definitely has an impact on the game,” said Blaine.

“She’s a good player.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31