From Soo Today
By Darren Taylor
Payton Stos and Farrah Farstad are basking in the glow of hockey success.
After the Sault College Cougars women’s hockey team won their fourth consecutive American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II championship, the two athletes have good reason to hold their heads high.
Stos scored the only goal, which was the game winner, while goaltender Farstad stopped 29 shots on her way to a shutout as the Cougars defeated Assiniboine College of Manitoba 1-0 on March 19 in the championship-winning match.
Stos was named the tournament MVP after scoring two goals and five points in five ACHA Division II tournament games.
“It felt good when they called my name,” Stos told SooToday.
“Winning this year and getting MVP was probably my best moment in college hockey.”
The recently completed season marked her second consecutive championship-winning year playing right wing on the Cougars roster.
She scored 11 goals and racked up 12 assists in 13 regular season games in 2025-26.
Both Stos and Farstad hail from Sudbury but enjoy their academic studies at Sault College.
“I started playing house league when I was really young and I played boys hockey until I was 12. My mom coached me when I grew up and my dad Jason Stos played with Windsor in the OHL for a while. I come from a super big hockey family,” Stos said.
She named Rebecca Johnston, a Sudbury native and Team Canada Olympic gold-medal winning forward as her inspiration in women’s hockey.
“She’d be around at hockey events and all my friends and I would be looking forward to getting our photos taken with her.”
Stos, 19, plans to complete her General Arts and Science program before studying Early Childhood Education at Sault College, intending to return to the Cougars next year.
Friendship plays a big role in sports for her.
“I play hockey just for the people that I meet, and the atmosphere. Some of the closest relationships I have are with people from the team,” Stos said.
Cougars goaltender Farstad is looking back with justifiable pride on her third consecutive championship-winning season in net for the team.
“I would say that when I was named MVP after last year’s championship tournament, in 2024-25, was probably my sweetest moment in hockey,” Farstad said.
“I remember being a rookie, in my first year at our home opener. We had a banner reveal for Emily Moore because she had won MVP the previous year.
“I remember vividly being on the ice looking up at her banner and saying to myself ‘I want one of those.’ So, when I ended up getting that MVP award and getting my own banner, that was my sweetest moment.”
Farstad had six shutouts in the 2025-26 regular season.
Both Stos and Farstad said it was gratifying to defeat Assiniboine for the championship this season as that team presents the Cougars with their stiffest competition.
Farstad started playing hockey at the age of four.
She played on a boys team before switching to playing with girls teams at the age of seven.
“My dad and one of my brothers are goalies. It runs in the family. I tried it out for myself and I’m good at it,” Farstad said.
“I always looked up to them but I wanted to make sure that my brother, who was a player, couldn’t score on me.”
Farstad named Rebecca Johnston, Tessa Bonhomme – a highly accomplished former professional hockey player and sports broadcaster – and former NHL goaltender Carey Price as her sources of inspiration at the pro level.
Farstad, 20, will graduate from Sault College’s Civil Engineering Technician program at the end of the current academic year and looks forward to working as an engineer in the mining industry.
Her time in net for the Cougars will always remain high on her list of cherished memories.
“Hockey means the world to me. It’s so much more than just a sport,” Farstad said.
“It has brought me my closest friends. It’s become a safe place where I could go and clear my thoughts and just focus on myself and getting better each and every day.
“It’s given me so many opportunities in life. I’ve travelled a lot because of it. It’s something that I’ll be forever grateful for.”
Both women are confident the Cougars will continue as a force to be reckoned with as the team begins ACHA Division I play next season.
(Originally published at https://www.sootoday.com/pursuit/my-sweetest-moment-women-lead-sault-college-to-hockey-glory-12056673)
