By Martin Cleary
The Kanata Girls’ Hockey Association posted a rousing message of encouragement on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on April 6 for its Rangers’ U15 A team members as they prepared for their grand finale – the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association championship.
The KGHA was extremely proud that its top competitive U15 team had put check marks beside three major goals with one objective remaining:
“We wanted to win tournaments – we did,” the pep talk started.
“We wanted to finish the season first in our division – we did.
“We wanted to be league champions – we are!
“Now onto provincials to conquer our final goal of the season. Way to go Rangers.”
If the KGHA could revisit and update that tweet, it would write in bold letters: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~ Advertisement ~~~~~~~~~
On Sunday, the Rangers scored one goal in each of the three periods to hold off the London Devilettes 3-1 in the Ontario girls’ U15 A gold-medal final in Toronto.
Sophia Grecco immediately lifted the Rangers’ spirits by scoring a goal at the 15-second mark of the first period. Rowan Fitchell added a second-period goal for a 2-0 advantage.
With four minutes remaining in the game, London pulled its goalkeeper for an extra skater and scored to make it a one-goal game. But Camryn Chevrier responded and counted the Rangers’ insurance marker into the empty net from her own blueline.
The Rangers opened their provincial championship with a 2-2 tie against Waterloo Ravens, but followed with a pair of wins – 4-1 over North Halton Twisters and 3-2 over Durham West Lightning – to finish the round robin in first place.
In the playoffs, Kanata turned back Peterborough Ice Kats 3-2 in its quarterfinal and Saugeen-Maitland Lightning 2-1 in the semifinals.
The Rangers’ golden moment was the high point of provincials for the KGHA, which qualified an astonishing 19 of its 21 teams for the OWHA championships.
The provincials are a massive undertaking for the OWHA with 652 teams, six age divisions and 27 classes. There were 1,189 games played at 17 arenas on 61 ice pads. The championships attracted more than 15,000 players, coaches and staff.
Casey Crupi savoured the Rangers’ winning moment as it was the first time in her coaching career she had won a provincial medal. The 2023-24 season was her second year as a head coach and eighth behind the players’ bench.
“A big part of it (success) was their passion and dedication,” Crupi said. “They cared and I can’t coach that.
“They all had a lot of fun all season and liked each other. There were no issues on or off the ice or on social media. They came together and were supportive of each other.”
Whether they practised two, three or four times a week, Crupi said her players worked extremely hard on and off the ice and accepted her weekly challenges to develop their skills as they aimed to scale the competitive ladder.
“They are all really strong hockey players and are trying to get to the (top) AA level. They push themselves,” said Crupi, who will coach the Lady Sens U15 AA team for the 2024-25 season. Team tryouts for next season were scheduled to start Tuesday night.
The Rangers U15 A team operated year-round with tryouts in the spring, team building exercises in the summer and throughout the season as well as games and practices from September through April.
During its 57-game schedule, the Rangers posted a record of 46-7-4, which included tournament victories in Whitby and Kanata, the Ontario Women’s Hockey League’s East Conference regular-season title, the league playoff championship and second place in the provincials’ qualifying playdowns.
“I knew we would be a strong team. I have coached a handful of the players when they were younger,” Crupi added. “I didn’t know exactly how strong or if we would be best-at-provincials strong.”
She added her players were talented in all facets of the game.
“Really everything,” Crupi added. “Every player had some unique and different skills. One player doesn’t win a championship. It takes every player contributing. We really developed a lot from the beginning to the end of the season.”
While the Rangers emerged as the only Ottawa District Women’s Hockey Association gold medallist, three other teams reached their respective finals and finished with the silver medal.
Stittsville Rockets won their first five games in the U18 B division by scoring 11 goals and allowing only three goals, which was highlighted by three shutouts. The Rockets defeated Scarborough Sharks 4-2, South Huron Sabres 2-1, Grand River Mustangs 2-0, Lucan Irish 1-0 (quarterfinal) and Mount Forest Rams 2-0 (semifinal). In the championship game, Woodstock Wildcats outscored Stittsville 3-1.
After finishing their preliminary round in the girls’ U15 C division, the Nepean Wildcats defeated Belmont Blazers 4-1 in their quarterfinal and the Wilmot Wolverines 5-0 in the semifinal before losing 4-2 to The Chatsworth and District Girls’ Hockey Association in the final. In the round-robin, the Wildcats turned back Mount Forest Rams 3-0 and lost to Belmont 4-1, but defeated Markdale Shooting Stars 7-0.
The senior AA division only had three teams, but the Ottawa Ice Cats finished the double round-robin with two wins, one loss and one tie to qualify for the final. After tying McMaster Marauders 2-2 in their opening game, the Ice Cats defeated St. Catharines Jets 4-2 and McMaster 2-1, but lost to St. Catharines 3-1. In its third game against St. Catharines, the Ice Cats lost 2-1 in the championship match.
The chase for their gold medal ended in the semifinals, but the Nepean Wildcats U11 AA team, the Gloucester-Cumberland Stars U18 BB squad and the Kemptville Storm U13 B team rallied to win their third-place games.
The Wildcats defeated Oakville Hornets 2-1 to earn the U11 AA bronze medal, after dropping their semifinal 4-2 to the Whitby Wolves. Earlier, the Wildcats defeated Toronto Leaside Wildcats 2-1 in their quarterfinal, scored respective 4-1 and 6-3 preliminary-round wins over Clarington Flames and Stoney Creek Sabres and tied Sudbury Lady Wolves 0-0.
The Stars edged Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds 2-1 for the U18 BB bronze medal. After winning their first four games 3-0 over Stoney Creek Sabres, 2-1 against Mississauga Hurricanes, 2-1 over Walkerton Capitals (all round robin) and 3-1 over North Halton Twisters (quarterfinal), the Stars lost 1-0 to Lambton Attack in their semifinal.
The Storm was impressive in the U13 B round robin, counting decisive wins over Lambton Attack at 5-1, Central York Panthers at 5-1 and Ennismore Eagles at 4-2. In the playoffs, the Storm defeated Temiskaming Shores Puckhounds 1-0 in its quarterfinal and fell 3-2 to the London Devilettes in its semifinal, but earned the bronze medal with a 5-2 decision over Stratford Aces.
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
