Cougars dominate opener at nationals

If Charles Tweed had a picture-perfect game in mind, this was it.

The head coach of the Assiniboine College Cougars saw just about everything in his club’s domination of the Boston University Terriers as they picked up an 8-0 win in Game 1 of their American Collegiate Hockey Association women’s Division 2 national tournament round-robin play at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights on Sunday afternoon.

Forward Veronica Smarz lit the lamp twice for the Cougars, while Kali Remillard, Brooke Cyr, Hailey Sitter, Victoria Mann, Kadence Cress and Katie Falkevitch added singles, and Rachel Halldorson stopped just seven shots to land the shutout and give them an all important two points in hope of qualifying for the final four.

Tweed said while his team came out of the gate with some nerves, he couldn’t have been happier with their performance once they regained their composure.

“The first 10 minutes we showed some nerves, obviously with 12 rookies, so I think that was to be expected that we were gonna have people that were a little bit nervous coming into their first national tournament but once one of our rookies, Kali Remillard, netted us our first goal, everybody kind of settled in a little bit after that and then we really just built stronger and stronger as the game went on.

“The first look out there you’re kind of looking around and taking everything in and then it’s go time, right? So, they handled it really well.”

Remillard, who captured a Manitoba Female Hockey League U18 AAA banner with the Eastman Selects along with her sister, Lexi, last year, not only opened the scoring but also scored her first goal at nationals. Not even she was sure of it, though.

“I didn’t even know it went in,” said Remillard, who also tallied an assist. “Then I found out it went in and it was actually really exciting.

“Honestly, I just tried to get a shot through between the D stick and her body, and then it just snuck in.”

Her teammates Cyr, Sitter, Mann, Cress and Falkevitch also potted their firsts, as Assiniboine’s depth shone brightly, getting contributions from just about everybody in the lineup.

And just as they’ve done the entire season, the Cougars played a complete game, dominating on attack and not giving their opponent anything to work with from start to finish, as they rattled off 36 shots and allowed only seven.

Halldorson was tested early and made some key stops while her squad was still settling into the game, but other than that, she wasn’t tasked with all that much. But, that’s just a testimony to the commitment to defence they’ve established all season-long.

“I think defence wins short tournaments, so you’ve gotta be committed to playing defence when essentially every time you play your life is on the line,” said Tweed. “To have two awesome goalies, a defence corps that’s really difficult to play against and then a committed group of forwards that are pushing back hard through the middle of the ice and just making it that any of their offensive players don’t have that extra time and space to do something in our end, it really becomes a commitment through the whole lineup and I think it shows on the scoresheet when you see there was only seven shots throughout the game.”

In addition to their five-on-five play, specialty teams also proved to be a strong part in their game.

Assiniboine racked up three power-play goals on five chances against the Terriers and stayed perfect on the penalty kill despite giving up four penalties.

In such a short tournament, Tweed is hoping to take all the positive vibes they can get from this performance for Game 2 this morning against Central Michigan University — which is ranked fourth in the Central Division — and onward.

“We should be full of confidence now,” he said.

“Hockey players like to score too, so if you can get that first one early in a tournament, you start feeling good, and the next thing you know, you’re shooting a little more and pucks are finding the back of the net, so it was nice to see so many people get on the score sheet for us.”

Goaltender Claire Merckx will get the nod for today’s matchup with the Chippewas.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com