Centre Wellington outduels Elmira in CWOSSA girls’ hockey final
‘It was a tough fight for both teams but, at the end of the day, they get to go to OFSAA’
The Elmira Lancers skated off the ice with their heads held high.
The Lancers saw their memorable season come to an end Tuesday afternoon with a 3-0 loss to the Centre Wellington Falcons in the goldmedal game of the Central Western Ontario (CWOSSA) triple-A girls’ hockey championship in Kitchener.
Avery Peters scored twice at Activa Sportsplex, Avery Diljee added a single and Riley Lind posted the shutout for Centre Wellington. The Falcons advance to the all-Ontario (OFSAA) triple-A championship.
The Waterloo County (WCSSAA) champion Lancers, who were pushed to the limit in a 3-2 semifinal win over the Huron Heights Huskies in the morning, settled for CWOSSA silver for a second straight year.
“Huron Heights put up a really good fight, so I think we were a little tired out there, and they also have a really good team with a lot of talented girls,” said Lancers forward Brie Brezynskie, a Grade 11 student.
“It was a tough fight for both teams but, at the end of the day, they get to go to OFSAA, and I wish them well.”
The Lancers lost just once during their WCSSAA campaign and fell 3-2 to Centre Wellington in pool play at CWOSSA.
In the final, the Falcons scored their first two goals on clear-cut breakaways.
Peters opened the scoring in the first period after skating in alone from centre ice and putting a nifty deke on Lancers goaltender Riley Nelson.
The Lancers pushed hard for an equalizer, with especially strong play from the line of Avery Grundy, Jordyn MacDonald and Emma Braun, but couldn’t find the mark.
Diljee added a short-handed goal to make it 2-0 near the midway point of the second period and put the game away by powering to the Elmira net and sliding the puck past Nelson with no time remaining in the period, although it was officially listed as 14:58.
Both teams had good scoring opportunities in a chippy third period, but Nelson and Lind both came up with quality saves.
“I just love all the girls and our rookies have come so far this year,” said Brezynskie. “It was really nice to see them gain confidence, so hopefully next season we can come back stronger.”
Brezynskie played on the top line with Sara Forwell and Claire Jacklin. The trio had a tremendous season.
Kylie Rayfield, Tiana Bender, Avery Collingwood and Lexie DeJeu have been key defenders.
“Our success has been our work ethic,” said Lancers head coach Steve Karn. “The girls play hard at both ends of the ice and our depth of three lines allows us to compete against any team we face.”
OFSAA bound
The District 8 champion Monsignor Doyle Mustangs qualified for OFSAA on Tuesday with a 5-2 win over the John F. Ross Royals of Guelph in the gold-medal game of the CWOSSA triple-A boys’ championship in Elmira.
Aiden Goias scored twice for the Mustangs and singles went to Nathan Cunningham, Aiden Singh and Cameron Hattie.
Monsignor Doyle beat the WCSSAA champion Grand River Renegades, 4-0, in semifinal play.
In Simcoe, the St. David Celtics dropped a 3-2 double-overtime heartbreaker to the Holy Trinity Titans in the final game of the CWOSSA girls’ single-A/double-A championship but both teams advance to OFSAA. Megan Bell and Addison Tillich scored for St. David, the reigning OFSAA champions.
All OFSAA hockey championships are being staged March 19 to 21 in Brooklin.