Girls of St. David capture the District 8 hockey championship
The St. David Celtics have done it again.
The Waterloo girls skated to their sixth consecutive District 8 hockey championship on Wednesday afternoon with a 7-0 win over the Monsignor Doyle Mustangs at RIM Park.
Megan Bell and Lilly Bell scored two goals apiece for the Celtics, with Olivia Weiss, Addison Tillich and Naomi Dupuis adding singles. Makenna Kroetsch made a quality save on Doyle captain Julia Papalia with 90 seconds left to preserve the shutout.
“It’s really nice to represent the school like that and to be so consistent over the years,” said Megan Bell. “I think it’s good for the hockey program and looks good on the school.”
The Celtics went into the District 8 final with a 13-0 record and had outscored their opponents 87-8. Three of those wins came against the Mustangs.
St. David advances to the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) double-A/triple-A tournament on Monday and Tuesday in Simcoe with hopes of repeating as regional champions. The Southwood Sabres will also play in Simcoe.
The Celtics’ long-range goal is to win a third straight all-Ontario (OFSAA) championship.
“We’re just going to play as hard as we can and see where that takes us,” said Megan Bell.
Former player Kristen Straus coaches the Celtics, with assistance from Susie Johnson and Krista Vrolyk.
“We have a very strong team this year with lots of talent from our Grade 9s through to our Grade 12s,” said Straus. “We are fortunate to have a lot of depth with many players who have shown versatility playing both forward and defence throughout the season.”
The Mustangs played the District 8 final with just 11 skaters and held tough until the Celtics scored two second-period goals in 19 seconds to make it 4-0.
The result did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of Mustangs head coach Shawn Rosario, who is proud of his team’s success this season, including a semifinal win over the Resurrection Phoenix.
“It’s a hard-working team with a great mindset, good goaltending and an excellent captain putting points on the board regularly who should be considered for MVP of the league,” said Rosario.
Mustangs defender Emilia Santos has also been instrumental in the success, said Rosario, and is someone the younger players look up to.
Despite the lopsided result, Angelina Gouveia had a strong game in the Doyle net.
The Mustangs move on to the CWOSSA triple-A tournament in Kitchener, a six-team event on Monday and Tuesday that includes Elmira and Huron Heights.
Elmira wins WCSSAA
In Elmira, the Lancers captured the Waterloo County (WCSSAA) championship with a 4-1 win over the Huron Heights Huskies. Sarah Forwell scored three goals for the Lancers and Addison Bettke added the other.
Emma Thornton scored for the Huskies.
Doyle wins District 8 boys’ title
At RIM Park, Nathan Cunningham scored in overtime and Monsignor Doyle beat Resurrection, 5-4, to sweep their best-of-three District 8 boys’ final.
Aiden Goias led the way with three goals for the Mustangs and James Sayles added a single.
The Mustangs advance to the CWOSSA triple-A championship Monday and Tuesday in Elmira. The Grand River Renegades and Elmira Lancers will also be there.
Griffin Beddis scored twice for Resurrection, while Kaiden Cormier and Alex Leduc had singles.