Nationals or bust for Cougars

Three times the charm.

After coming up short in the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division 2 nationals the past two years, the Assiniboine College Cougars are gearing up to flip the script and set the record straight — they are the fiercest Cougars in town.

“The group’s been awesome,” said first-year head coach Charles Tweed. “Everybody’s competed incredibly hard, and the entire group from top to bottom care about each other and have had really good seasons to go with it, so we’re just hoping to build on it into the second half.”

Assiniboine College dropped both of its winner-take-all decisions to the three-time defending champion Sault College Cougars with 3-0 and 6-2 losses, but Tweed is confident if they stick to Cougars hockey, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to win the last game of the season this time around.

Heading into this year the Cougars roster experienced some drastic turnover with only six players returning to the fold: forwards Kasey Fouillard, Madison Haliuk and Alexis Campbell, defenders Kylee Emms-Finnsson and Brooklyn Driedger and netminder Rachel Halldorson, but the new Cougars DNA clearly hasn’t impacted their play on the ice, as they sit near the top of the rankings with an 11-2 record and seven straight wins.

Under head coach Dave Kirkup last season, AC was also able to rack up numbers in the win column after it eclipsed a 22-2-2 record, but Tweed has implemented a stingy and suffocating style of play, which could help boost its fortunes not just in the regular season, but even more come springtime.

“We talk about Cougars hockey, and one of the big things we stress is about playing honest hockey on the right side of the puck. We understand when we get to nationals against those really good teams, it’s going to be one or two goals, and you’ve got to play the game the right way in those situations,” Tweed said. “You can’t just flip that switch on when you get there, and you can’t cheat all year and get to nationals and then think you’re going to play good, honest hockey. I know it sounds a little bit grandiose, but they respect the game of hockey and the way it’s supposed to be played. They play it the right way.

“It’s got to be fundamental to who you are as a team, and our players really respect and play honest hockey, where if the forwards work hard to come back, well, now our defence can step up and be aggressive at the blue-line so they can make opposition players have to react more quickly and make more difficult decisions further away from our net.”

The proof’s been in the pudding.

Their commitment to defence has notched them just 12 goals against in 13 contests, which has undoubtedly been a key part in why they see their logo near the top of the league standings. It’s also been a reason why their offence has been so potent, as their ability to quickly transition from defence to attack has delivered them 65 goals and balanced scoring, with all three lines producing and six players into double digits in scoring: Jenna Walker (23), Fouillard (17), Victoria Mann (15), Haliuk (14), Abby Dixon (11), and Emms-Finnsson (11).

Their ability to put the puck in the net was on full display prior to the Christmas break with a back-to-back set against Lake Region State College, whom they blasted with 11-3 and 10-1 victories at the Sportsplex, with plenty of the goals coming off set plays Tweed has tried to implement over the last number of weeks.

“We’re getting into a little bit more set pieces off of face-offs and defensive coverage, and the hope is that when we get in those 2-1 games, maybe that’s a spot where we get an edge and we score the goal to push us over the top,” he said. “We scored five or six goals directly off set pieces against Lake Region, and to see it play out that way, you could see kind of the light bulb go on for everybody. When we play those really good teams, that can be the difference.”

It’s a threat that could be put to use against the other Cougars, who are responsible for one of AC’s two losses after a 1-0 result in Fargo during early November and still remain undefeated with a 13-0 record. Despite the result, Tweed is glad his club was able to experience a playoff-type game with it being more physical and less time and space out on the ice, given many of the girls on the team are still in their first season.

“I think we proved to ourselves there that we can compete with what has been and probably is the best team in ACHA2, so it was good for us to see that measuring stick and understand that we’re close, we’re around, and we can compete with these athletes and look forward hopefully to seeing them in nationals in a few months,” said Tweed. “I know there were athletes on our side that were a little bit anxious about that game, but once the puck drops it’s just hockey again and everything settles in and you start to see the light bulb go off of, ‘Oh, we can compete with this team.’”

And it certainly helps when you have two goaltenders who give you a chance to win on any given night and are the backbones of the Cougars stifling defence.

It starts with second-year crease patroller Rachel Halldorson, who’s arguably the best in the league and has the numbers to back it up. Last year, Halldorson collected a 1.06 goals against average and a .963 save percentage and was awarded an ACHA Division 2 first team all-star nomination. Through nine appearances this year, she’s somehow managed to best those totals, as she’s gone undefeated and notched a 0.81 GAA and a .965 save percentage.

Freshman Boissevain product Clair Merckx has also proved her worth, albeit in a small sample size. In four games, the 18-year-old has secured two wins, including one shutout, to go along with a 1.25 GAA and a .956 save percentage. Last season, the five-foot-eight netminder played 30 games in Manitoba U18 AAA for the Yellowhead Chiefs and posted a 2.20 GAA and a .928 save percentage.

“Our goalies are going to make a big save when they need to,” Tweed said. “It’s nice as a coach to know what we have in Rachel, she was the best goalie in the league last year, but to know that we also have Clair that can step in at any time and play in big games, that’s pretty nice as a coach too.”

The Cougars will return to action on Jan. 9 with a two-game road trip against the Jamestown Jimmies (5-6-1) in North Dakota.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com