The Mount Royal Cougars wanted it so bad – to be the first hockey team from the school to capture a Canada West final.
The Cougars played a great series against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, but ran into a hot goalie in the third and final game.
Head coach Bert Gilling says it was a heartbreaker.
“Twenty-five years of university hockey, and it was maybe the most devastating locker room I’ve ever been around after a game,” he said.
“Our guys fought so hard, and I love them for it. It meant a lot to our group to try to get that Canada West banner, and now we’ve got to try to transition into a National Championship mindset.”
Nationals in Ottawa
Even though the loss still stings, the Cougars’ season isn’t over.
They get to head to Ottawa next week to play for the USports National Championship.
Forward Connor Bouchard says he’s grateful for that.
“I think the good thing is you still get to come to the rink with your best friends, and you still get to play hockey,” he said.
“You get to look forward to another opportunity. We get to play in a National Championship, a National Championship that we earned the right to play in.”
Right frame of mind
Getting the loss to the Huskies will be a key for the Cougars.
They have to find a way to get over it and go to Ottawa in the right frame of mind.
Gilling says they plan to talk about the loss and get it out of their system.
“Make sure all of those emotions are real and acknowledge them,” he said.
“It hurst and it sucks. You need to give the guys a chance to speak about it and see how they felt about it, and hopefully it’s a bit of therapy, and then we want to end that conversation with looking forward to having this opportunity to win a National Championship.”
If they need inspiration
If the Cougars need any motivation, all they need to do is look up.
The Mount Royal women’s team faced the same scenario in 2023.
They lost the Canada West Championship, but came back to win the Nationals.
Defenceman Remy Aquilon remembers it well.
“The women doing that in my first year was really cool,” he said.
“Especially the buzz around campus and what not. Everyone was talking about it and the girls were super excited and all the athletes were super excited for them.
“That’s still a pretty big goal, probably bigger than the Canada West, so we have a chance to get everyone pretty excited.”
The Nationals start in Ottawa on March 20.
The Cougars still don’t know who they’ll play first; the rankings will come out on Sunday.
