Lakeland College, respected in Western Canadian women’s hockey circles and beyond, believes Lloydminster would be an ideal host for the first national female collegiate hockey championship.
Read more: Women’s hockey Rustlers win 10 straight
The reigning Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference champion Lakeland Rustlers are pushing the national agenda in hopes they could host the inaugural women’s college hockey nationals as soon as 2027.
Earlier in January, the ACAC’s first-place Rustlers travelled to Ste-Marie, Que., within an hour of Quebec City, and won a national-style college tournament featuring three Alberta teams, six from Quebec and one from Prince Edward Island.
Rustlers coach Morgan Mann said Lakeland’s athletic director helped organize that exhibition tournament, and the Border City college brain trust wants to create an annual championship within the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association.
“Alan Rogan has been, I think, one of the leading people behind the push to have a national tournament for women’s hockey at the college level.”
The Rustlers went 6-0 to win this month’s Quebec tournament, which included fellow Alberta schools NAIT and Olds, Holland College from P.E.I., and the contingent from the host province.
“We had a good showing there and it looks promising that a (formal) national tournament is on the horizon,” Mann said. “We would love to have the opportunity to maybe be the first team to host that event. Our community gets behind things like that. We’ll see where it goes, but it was a good first step.”
Playing in the Co-op Community Arena at the new Cenovus Energy Hub complex, the Rustlers are confident that shiny new showcase facility can only help their bid to host a national championship.
As it stands, Canadian university teams within U Sports play for national championships in men’s and women’s hockey. At the college level, men’s teams from the ACAC and elsewhere previously played for a CCAA championship, but those nationals were disbanded a few times over the past 50 years.
The recent Quebec tournament for women’s college teams had a national feel, with schools from various parts of Canada participating.
“We had a great experience out in Quebec,” Mann said about his Rustlers. “We were treated very well. Getting to catch (an NHL) game at the Bell Centre (in Montreal), that was a pretty cool experience, a special place.”
Likewise, the rink in Ste-Marie left a lasting impression on the coach and his Rustlers.
“A really nice facility, kind of central for a lot of their college teams down in Quebec,” Mann said.
“I found the parity between the Quebec teams to be solid. They have a good league there, (as evidenced in) their showing in the tournament. The team that went into their tournament in first place in their league, I don’t think showed as well as a couple of teams that were sitting in third and fourth that we ended up playing in the semifinal and final. They were similar — really good goaltending.”
In the playoffs, Lakeland beat CEGEP Edouard-Montpetit 5-0 in the final and CEGEP Trois-Rivieres 5-0 in the semifinal. Overall, the Rustlers outscored their opponents 24-2.
“Hockey and sports are funny,” Mann said after Lakeland suffered a rare loss, 4-3 at home to NAIT, in ACAC play last Friday.
“I mean, NAIT only won one game out of six (in the Quebec tournament), and here they are tonight, and handed it to us.”
The next night, the Rustlers returned to their winning ways, defeating NAIT 4-1 in Edmonton.
Read more: Rustlers show no rust atop ACAC hockey
