Cougars drop series, claim ACAC silver medal

The storybook season of the Mount Royal Cougars has finished without a happy ending.
Down 2-0 in the best-of-five ACAC Women’s Hockey Championship series and facing elimination, the Cougars couldn’t match the firepower or the goaltending of the SAIT Trojans, losing the third game 4-0 as they were upset by their cross-town rivals.

After losing just one game during the regular season and sweeping the Grant MacEwan University Griffins in their opening playoff series, the Cougars appeared to be headed towards a second straight ACAC title. The Trojans had dispatched of the NAIT Ooks in the other semi-final matchup, but hadn’t beaten the Cougars in 13 straight meetings, leading most to believe the championship final would be just a formality.

The Trojans had other plans, however, and their star power shone through as goaltender Tehnille Gard played her best hockey of the season, and the Trojans’ top forwards Bianca Zuber, Tia Hanson and rookie Lindsey Audia were too much for the Cougars.

Hanson opened the scoring at 4:07 of the first period, taking a feed from Zuber to take the early lead. The Trojans added their second on the powerplay at 14:13 of the same period, to take a 2-0 lead into the second frame.

The Cougars’ normally potent offense sputtered badly in the second period, generating only three shots on net compared to the Trojans 18. Netminder Kendall Kilgour stood tall as she faced a barrage of shots, but was beaten just past the 12 minute mark of the second as Zuber scored her first of two on the night to make it 3-0 Trojans.

The Cougars couldn’t muster anything else in the third period either, and any chances were thwarted by Gard’s solid goaltending. Zuber potted her second of the night into the Cougars’ empty net at 18:37 to secure an ACAC championship for the SAIT Trojans.

While the Cougars will certainly be feeling the agony of defeat, they should hold their heads high and be proud of their outstanding regular season effort. This team is still young and extremely talented, and will return multiple starters next year to once again be among the preseason favourites to win it all in 2012.

Congratulations Cougars on your outstanding season.