Dauphin’s Marley Quesnel and Jasmin Denby of Winnipegosis helped the Assiniboine Community College (ACC) Cougars win the 2019 American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 national title.

With no champion crowned in 2020 or 2021, the Cougars had a chance to defend their title at this year’s national tournament in St. Louis. MO., Mar. 15 to 19, this time with three Parkland girls on the roster.

Forward Emmalie Thompson and defencewoman Emma Gamache of Ste. Rose and McCreary’s Remy Buchanan helped ACC defend its title, as the Cougars went undefeated in claiming its second straight ACHA championship.

ACC’s season began, Nov. 12, with a 2-1 loss to the Dakota College at Bottineau Lady Jacks, which features Dauphin’s Jaida Chartrand.

It was the only blemish for the Cougars as they won the next 14 games, qualifying for the national championship tournament.

Wins over the University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire and Sault College put the Cougars into the semifinals, where they beat Northeastern University, 5-1.

In the final, the Cougars faced a familiar foe in the Lady Jacks, but this time it was ACC which scored a 2-1 victory to claim the national title.

Gamache had a goal in the five games in St. Louis after scoring once in three contests during the regular season. She had no words to describe what it is like to be a national champion.

“It’s very surprising. I definitely was not expecting this at the start of the year,” she said.

Being the defending champion, Gamache said, did put some added pressure on the team, but it was a good pressure.

The Cougars dominated the round-robin, outscoring their opponents, 12-1. But given the season they had with only the one loss at the start of the year, Gamache said they were expecting good results. Playing with Thompson and Buchanan gave Gamache a sense of familiarity with the Cougars.

“I was very happy to go there with two girls that I’ve been playing with my whole life,” she said.

The final game, she said was nerve-wracking.

“I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, just the tip of my toes, ready to go,” she said, adding she is looking forward to defending the title next year. “It was the experience of a lifetime and I’m excited to do it again,” she said.

Thompson was third in scoring on the Cougars with nine goals and 21 points in 14 games. She added three goals and an assist in the round-robin and chipped in with two helpers in the semifinal game. Thompson said the biggest competition the Cougars faced in St. Louis was the Lady Jacks, the only team to beat ACC all year.

“Going into nationals we were pretty confident, but we knew we really couldn’t take those games lightly. But we were pretty confident we were going to at least make it to the semis,” she said.

After watching Northeastern University play prior to the semifinals, the Cougars were confident when it came to facing them with a chance to advance to the final. But the Cougars trailed 1-0 after the first period.

“And then we had to step up our game. They were really stiff competition for us, actually. We just managed to pull through,” Thompson said.

With the Lady Jacks handing the Cougars their only loss of the season, Thompson knew Dakota College would be tough in the final. But with a 1-0 lead after the first period, the Cougars allowed few chances, although the Lady Jacks did manage to tie the game in the second.

In the third period, Thompson said, the Cougars played it safe.

“We were playing a lot of defence. We didn’t want to keep trying for offensive goals. We were just going to take what we could,” she said.

Thompson was on the ice when the final buzzer sounded and she admitted to looking up at the clock a couple of times as it wound down.

“When the buzzer went the whole team jumped on our goalie. I’ve never actually won a gold medal, so it was pretty exciting for me,” she said.

Because it was such a close game, Thompson admitted to feeling a sense of relief mixed with elation at the end.

“I’ve been in those close games. I’ve been to the gold medal game twice in my life at provincials and lost with 10 seconds left in the third period, so I was kind of freaking out. And then when it was over, I was relieved and I was real happy,” she said, adding being a national champion is cool, but she doesn’t really feel like one because she is so used to going to provincials. It is only when people congratulate her, that it hits home.

Buchanan, a forward, had three goals and five points in 13 games during the regular season and chipped in with an assist in five games in St. Louis.

Competing for a national championship was a surreal experience, she said.

“It’s really hard to put into words. You pretty much have to be there. It’s a completely new experience with a completely different atmosphere,” she said.

Buchanan attributed the opening-season loss to nerves, stating it was the first ACHA game for a lot of the players.

“So we were really nervous. And as the season went on, we really dominated everyone. So we all went into this pretty confident. We knew we were a great team. We knew we could play with any team we were put up against. So we were all pretty confident going into it,” she said.

Going into the final, the Cougars were not nervous since they were facing a familiar opponent.

“We knew Bottineau’s playing style, so we knew what to expect and what we needed to do. During the game, things did get pretty intense,” she said.

According to Buchanan, Cougars head coach Tony Bertone refers to himself as a calm coach.

“But he has his moments where he likes to bark a little bit and get in the game. So things were getting a little intense on the bench. But we knew that we just had to keep it cool. We all had to keep calm and we just needed to play our game and we would come out of it with a national championship,” she said.

For Buchanan, the final moments of the game was amazing.

“You knew in the back of your head, like, ‘okay, we got it. This is it.’ But you still had to wait for those final seconds to tick by. So you’re patiently waiting there, watching the time slowly tick down and as soon as that buzzer rang, we were all trying to jump over the boards to go congratulate our goalie,” she said.

Almost a week later, being a national champion still hadn’t sunk in for Buchanan.

“It was such a new, different experience for me that I didn’t really know how to react. I guess it kind of has sunk in now, now that I got to come home with the medal and everyone has been congratulating us,” she said. “But after that win when we were all on the ice, it was pretty unbelievable. I couldn’t believe that it actually happened.”

Like the rest of her teammates, Buchanan is looking forward to getting back on the ice to defend the championship.