Cougars improve to 2-0 at nationals

The Central Michigan University kept it close for 27 minutes but the Assiniboine College Cougars proved to be too much for them, earning a 10-2 victory in Pool C of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s women’s Division 2 national championship on Monday in Maryland Heights, Mo.

The Cougars (2-0), who opened with an 8-0 pounding of Boston University on Sunday, finish up pool play today against Northern Michigan University (2-0-0-0) at 4 p.m.

Northern Michigan (1-1) beat Central Michigan 5-1 on Sunday but fell 5-1 to Boston University on Monday evening, so Assiniboine will advance to the semifinals of the 16-team event unless it takes an unlikely drubbing.

Cougars head coach Charles Tweed said there is no more room for error left for his club.

“From here on in, it’s do or die,” Tweed said. “Win that game and we punch our ticket to the semifinals, and lose that game and we’re boarding a plane back to Brandon. We’ve got to be dialled in tomorrow, we know we’re going to get Northern Michigan’s best effort.”

Overall, he was pleased with Monday’s effort, saying his group played well, even though their efforts were not always rewarded early.

“It was a really good game for us,” Tweed said. “It was a bit of a slower start again but our top line with Kasey Fouillard, Victoria Mann and Veronica Smarz (Asquith) kind of took over in the second period. They put in those three or four shifts that a team really needs to get going, and everybody fell in line after that.

“They really got us going, got us rolling, and from there we didn’t look back.”

The Cougars certainly got the started they wanted, with Brooke Cyr scoring just 25 seconds into the game. It was a good thing, because some frustration lay ahead.

“That really helped us,” said Fouillard, who had a goal and an assist centring the top line. “It definitely gave us some confidence and we continued to build off that. We didn’t play this team in the regular season so we were a little leery and not too sure how it was going to play out so getting that first goal right off the hop really set the tone.”

AC dominated the first period, outshooting CMU 26-8, but Lainie Fliegel made 25 saves in the first period alone. Every player’s nightmare is badly outplaying a club and not having much to show for it, because the game can change quickly.

Fouillard said that was on their minds in the dressing room in the first intermission.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Fouillard said. “We know we can perform really well but just having the one goal, we definitely came into the room feeling like we could do better. We didn’t get down or too up but we tried to find our middle ground.

“… We needed to regroup after the first period: Usually firsts aren’t our best period of the game. It was just testing the waters but we tried to stay positive and lift our teammates.”

After Jenna Walker doubled the lead one minute 46 seconds into the second period on the power play, Kaitlyn Williams replied for CMU 24 seconds later and it was 2-1. That proved to be the high-water mark for CMU.

Montana Jubenvill, Victoria Mann, Abby Dixon and Kasey Fouillard scored before the period was out for a 5-1 Cougars lead as they outshot CMU 29-6 in the middle frame.

Central Michigan’s Zoie Sawdy struck early in the third period to make it 5-2, but Victoria Mann, Dixon, Isabelle Gottselig and Asquith scored four goals in just over two minutes to put the game away, with Mann and Dixon’s goals coming eight seconds apart.

Asquith then added another goal midway through the period for her fourth of the tournament.

Assiniboine’s power play was deadly, scoring four times in seven chances as Central Michigan went 0-for-3.

“It was really good today,” Tweed said. “We talked about that in between games. We scored three goals in the first game but we even talked about being a little more patient than we were, trying to find opportunities, one good opportunity, instead of just getting it to the net. It was really good for us today.

“Izzy (Isabelle Gottselig) had an absolute laser beam of a shot that went top corner for us, and we looked really good moving the puck around.” Fliegel and Sydney Pound combined to make 73 saves, with Assiniboine’s Clair Merckx stopping 22 shots.

On Sunday, Rachel Halldorson faced just seven shots in posting the shutout against Boston University.

“Our defence has been the strength of our team all year and once again they played really well for us,” Tweed said. “When we did give up a couple of chances, Clair was there to bail us out. It’s a pretty nice luxury to have two goaltenders. It’s important to note as this tournament goes on, you just keep playing better and better teams so you’re going to have to play in your own end and defend a little bit.

“I was proud we bent but didn’t break today.”

Offensively, the Cougars are absolutely rolling in the tournament, which is being held at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, a suburb of St. Louis.

After posting 18 goals in two games, the Cougars have a dozen goal scorers and only two of their 16 skaters haven’t posted a point. Their ability to spread around the wealth is a team strength, Fouillard said.

“It’s so uplifting,” she said. “Knowing we’re not just playing for ourselves but for the girl beside us, that’s what comes first. It makes me happy to see us all coming together and having different girls being able to perform like is awesome.”

The four pool winners advance to the semifinals, which will be played Wednesday at 2:30 and 5 p.m., with the championship on the line on Thursday at 5 p.m.

But before the Cougars can think about that, they’ll need a win today against Northern Michigan, another team they’ve never played.

“We’re just going to come in with an open mind,” Fouillard said. “Going off these games, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s anyone’s game, so we have to reset and get some rest and fill ourselves with some good energy and sleep the energy positive.

“We have to come out a little more in the first period to set the tone but it’s going to be exciting.”

ICINGS — CMU went 18-9-1 during the regular season. Northern Michigan University went 15-1-1-2 during the regular season … Gottselig and Mann each had three assists, and Lexi Remillard had two … Assiniboine outshot Central Michigan 27-10 in the third period, which was the closest of the three periods on the shot clock.

pbergson@brandonsun.com