Posted: Feb 08, 2017
FROM THE ARCHIVES: WOMEN HAWKS WIN OCAA HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP
March 18, 1982
By Tom Michbata
Last-minute heroics led Humber’s women’s hockey team to win their first ever Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) title at North Bay last week.
In the final game against archrival Seneca Braves, Hawk left-winger Cindy Newman scored with just 48 seconds left in regulation time to enable Humber o emerge with an exciting 7-6 victory.
Newman’s game-winning goal came after a face-off in the Seneca end when Heather Hong intercepted a pass and moved past the circle before passing to Lisa Maik off to one side of the Seneca goal. Maik then passed to Newman in front, who fired a three-foot shot high into the net.
Humber also turned the trick earlier in that day with their 4-3 semi-final squealer over Centennial Colts. Captain Kendra Magnus did the honors that time, notching the winner with only 14 seconds remaining.
Humber coach Don Wheeler, returning after a four-game absence, was thrilled with his team’s performance.
“I am quite pleased for the college,” he said. “The girls worked hard all season. It took up a lot of their time.”
Magnus said the team was “really up” for the tournament because they were not rated highly at the outset.
“Seneca had the attitude that they were the best before the tournament started,” Magnus said.
Further incentive was the fact that the North Bay media interviewed Seneca and Centennial as pre-tournament favourites.
“This really pumped us up because they felt we had no chance,” Magnus said.
The six teams in the tournament were divided into two three-team pools. Humber finished second in its pool, beating Sheridan but losing to Seneca. That earned the Hawks their semi-final berth against Centennial, the first-place finisher in the other pool. Seneca scored a 2-1 semi-final win over Sir Sandford Flemming to set the stage for the final.
Wheeler said the key to Humber winning the championship was poise and control.
“In the last five minutes if the final game, we seemed to be cooler than Seneca,” he said. “Our team handled the pressure well. We emphasized puck control as a result, we controlled the play at the end of the game.”
“In a tournament like this, all the teams are equal in ability. The key is being able to handle the pressure,” Wheeler explained. “Halfway through the season I told the girls not to get down on themselves if they made mistakes. From this they learned to handle themselves in tight situations.”
In the title game the Hawks went ahead 2-0 in the opening period on a pair of goals by Adrienne Whalen. But Seneca stormed back in the second period, scoring four straight goals. Hawks cut the margin to 4-3 on a goal in the final minute of the period by Maik, then tied the game only 58 seconds into third period as Whalen complete the hat-trick on a set-up by Hong.
From this point the game seesawed back and forth. Julia Drew put Seneca ahead 5-4, but Hong tied it for Humber. Jodi Ogawa made it 6-5 for Seneca, only to have Maik knot the score again, setting the stage for Newman’s dramatic goal.
