UNDERDOG GRec WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM WIN OCR WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
BRANTFORD, ON -- What a difference a year makes. Last year, the Georgian Grizzlies women’s extramural hockey team could not score a goal at the 2023 Ontario Collegiate Recreation West Regional tournament in Brantford. Last week, at the 2024 tournament, no one could stop the squad from scoring.
The Grizzlies pumped in 21 goals enroute to a perfect 4-0 record to claim the 2024 OCR West Regional Championship and qualify for the OCR RECCup Women’s Hockey Championship March 27-28 hosted by Humber College.
No one was happier than assistant captain Maddy Robillard, one of the nine returning players from last year’s squad.
“I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness”, says Robillard. “The girls didn’t give up and their work ethic was extraordinary”.
Rookie forward and assistant captain Olivia Chartrand was equally thrilled.
“It was a fantastic feeling seeing it come together and seeing us do things we have never done before. We finally played with the confidence I knew we could play with – we felt unstoppable.”
For captain Avery Thompson, who has witnessed the ebbs and flows of the women’s hockey program at Georgian, is not surprised in all came together at the right time.
“Our results (leading up to the regional) may not show it, but something clicked for us this semester,” Thompson says. “We have been having fun, communicating well and our confidence grew. Winning just makes all of it 10 times better”.
While there is no varsity hockey at the Ontario Collegiate level, many schools participate in extramural or “recreational rep” hockey that has a series of tournaments between November and March, followed by regionals and the RECCup Championship. After a 2022-23 season in which the team did not win a game and only scored one goal all year, something had to change to elevate the women’s extramural hockey program to an equitable level with the men’s program.
So, Georgian worked in partnership with the Barrie Women’s Hockey Association to get the team entered into the BWHA’s Tier 1 league, allowing the team to play games on a regular basis leading up to OCR tournaments. Also, a regular weekly practice and bi-weekly skills session was incorporated into the program. Finally, the program hired Head Coach Chris Killingsworth and Assistant Head Coach Carter Loupelle and added a student assistant goaltending coach Brendan Keeler later in the year.
Killingsworth, who along with Loupelle joined Georgian this year after many years coaching the Fleming College Men’s Hockey team, embraced the challenge and had a simple philosophy heading into his first season at the helm.
“Coaching women’s hockey is a first for Carter and I and we welcomed the chance to learn a side of hockey we hadn’t before while sharing our approach to the game,” he says. “We were definitely a bit nervous, but we quickly learned our team wanted to be competitive this year. Our goal was to give the women’s hockey team the college hockey experience they deserve at Georgian and an opportunity to part of a top-tier extramural hockey program.”
Two player evaluation sessions were held in September with both new and returning players coming out and the chance for Killingsworth & Loupelle to lay out the plan for the year.
Chartrand, a first year Police Studies student, emerged from those sessions as welcome offensive threat, along with returnees Sara Bridges and Peyton Verstraten and newcomers Alicia Griffin and Jordyn MacFadden. She immediately liked what she saw.
“Going into college, it was really important to me to make sure the college I chose had a women’s hockey team, as it’s been a big passion of mine. Being a rookie, I didn’t know what I was getting into, but it was obvious this group had great potential.”
That potential, though, took a while to be realized, as is often the case when rebuilding. In the Orillia Fall Faceoff in November, the team went 1-2, with a win over Lakehead 2-1 being the first overall win for the program since March 2020. Next up was the Humber tournament, which saw the team compete but ultimately lose to perennial contenders Fanshawe and Durham College/Ontario Tech, then end the tournament with wins over Canadore and U of T Mississauga. After a layoff over the Christmas holidays, the team hosted a small tournament in Barrie with defending RECCup champions Trent, DC/OT and an undermanned Lakehead Orillia team- and lost all three games. It was a low point in the season.
“It was tough coming off the break and incorporating new players Laura Coleman (F), Jo MacDonnell (D) and Molly Rodgers (G) into the lineup with only one practice before we played,” says Killingsworth. “But it was great to get them out there with the other players and see the potential impact they could have going forward – and underlined the importance for us to have solid practices and skill sessions for the team leading up to Regionals.”
Robillard noted that from a player perspective, reinforcement of a structure and system and getting the team to execute has been a key.
“It did take us sometime to “buy in” to a new structure of play but getting the (practice and skills) time has allowed us to get to know each other better, improve our communication and organization and, ultimately, buy in and perform much better than we ever have.”
For Chartrand, another factor has been working on confidence, which comes from executing a game plan and seeing it bring results.
“For me, even though we weren’t winning, it’s not like we weren’t trying or had a bad attitude. It was simply a lack of confidence. The confidence of shooting the puck, giving a hard pass and skating with all you have. Once we started doing that, it has paid off.”
That confidence grew with great weekly results in the BWHA League (where the team is undefeated this season) and wins in late January over the BWHA Selects and over Lakehead-Orillia in the annual Frost Cup showdown in early February. Then the team got a flavour of just how far it had come at the Fleming Tournament on Jan 23rd.
First up was Trent - and the Grizzlies beat the defending RECCup champions 3-2. Next up was eastern Ontario powerhouse St. Lawrence College – and the Grizzlies took that one 2-0 to advance to the final against DC/OT. DC/OT won the final, but Georgian dominated the play only to be thwarted by stellar goaltending. Despite the loss, the players came away knowing that they could make a splash at Regionals.
“After being a finalist at the Fleming tournament, we knew we had the potential to win it all,” says Chartrand. “Going into regionals as the underdogs fueled our fire”.
The team certainly came out on fire to set the tone for the day. Game one saw the team pitted against DC/OT, one of the favourites and a team Georgian had gone 0-3 against this season. Someone forgot to tell the Grizzlies they were not supposed to win. Georgian roared out to a 5-0 lead before DC/OT fought back to make it close, an empty-netter finally giving Georgian a 6-4 win. In game two, the wagon kept on rolling with an 8-1 victory over WLU Brantford, setting up a semi-final showdown against Fleming. With a win, the Grizzlies would advance to the RECCup Championship – lose and the season was over. After getting down 2-1, Georgian stormed back to win 5-2 and get a berth in the RECCup Championship. In the regional final, Georgian played the Fanshawe Falcons - a team Georgian had never beaten in OCR hockey. On a day of firsts, the Grizzlies notched another one with a hard fought 2-1 win over the defending West Regional champs to win the title.
For Killingsworth, the team’s progress has been very satisfying.
“It was nice to go 4-0 and win the regionals in Brantford, but ultimately, the greatest reward was to see the ladies compete and win as a team. Earlier in the year, there were too many individual efforts, and we weren’t successful. Now, these ladies play their hearts out for one another, and the Grizzly on the front of their sweaters.”
Both Robillard and Chartrand agree with their coach.
“The effort and dedication we have from getting to know each other better this year has been amazing,” says Robillard. “We had chance to become a family. It was super rewarding to earn a spot in the RECCup championship this year – not just get in because we are the host, like we were last season.”
“The chemistry in the dressing room is unmatched,” adds Chartrand. “It feels like this team has known each other for years, even though many of us only met this season."
That bond is going be critical as the team prepares to play in the RECCup Championship tournament at the end of March against Humber, St. Lawrence and Fanshawe. All three teams have won championships before, putting the Grizzlies in the underdog position yet again.
“Everyone loves an underdog story, but our win in Brantford solidifies that we deserve to be at RECCup with the other great teams in Ontario,” says Killingsworth. Captain Thompson couldn’t agree more.
“It really seems like we are the underdogs, and we are (probably) underestimated, but we have grown so much in the last 7 months. We’re our own little family,” she says.
“Regionals was just the beginning of what we are capable of.”
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