From The Sault Star
By Gordon Anderson
Four games during the regular season were scheduled against non-conference opponents with a purpose in mind.
The Sault College Cougars picked up two non-conference wins against the Assiniboine College Cougars at the Rankin Arena back in mid-January, while the other non-conference victories were away to the Dakota College Jacks in late January.
“We (didn’t get tested) like that in our conference (games),” Sault College head coach Brianne Shunock said. “The out of conference games really helped us to determine where our team was at.”
The Cougars ended the regular season with a record of 22-0-0.
The toughest test in conference play was a weekend road series against Central Michigan, where the Cougars won 2-1 in overtime and 4-0. Other than that, it was an easily managed schedule for this group of Sault skaters.
For the locals, there was significant meaning wrapped up in those wins as Dakota College, Assiniboine College and the Sault were loosely intertwined by association at the women’s Division 2 national championship tournament last March.
The Brandon, Man., based Cougars knocked the Sault out of further play with a 3-1 victory in pool play. Meanwhile, Assiniboine went on to face the Jacks in the ACHA national championship game and picked up a 2-1 victory.
Shunock was confident the club was in for another strong season, but as the games were knocked off the schedule and the victories piled up—scores in the outrageous category, at times—the coach felt the team wasn’t getting tested enough. They didn’t know with any certainty their true position against the league’s best and confirmation bias was a real thing.
These wins were good for the memory bank, while building a tremendous amount of confidence.
“The four games showed us that we are capable of winning,” Shunock said. “We aren’t just capable of being conference champions; we are more than capable of winning the national championship trophy.”
Three of the wins were by one goal and one was a two-goal victory, the minutiae of victory an important thing to realize.
“You learn really quickly that a too many men penalty or an offside throughout certain parts of the game are really costly and the team that makes less mistakes in those situations is going to win,” Shunock said. “That sound obvious but there can be the smallest things that happen that can change everything. We need to perfect and make sure we are paying attention the entire game. I am happy we had those four games because they were close situations and taught the players that anything can happen and they need to be patient with the puck and make the smart plays instead of the Hail Mary situations.”
The Cougars are in Flint, Mich., this weekend for the central conference tournament. The locals will play Adrian College, Michigan State University and Central Michigan University.
(Originally published at https://www.saultstar.com/sports/four-key-wins-have-sault-cougars-believing-in-the-promise-of-the-post-season)
