Sault College’s women’s hockey team is off to the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II National Championship title game.
Thanks to a 5-0 win over the University of Wisconsin on Monday, Sault College will play in the national championship game on Tuesday, and they’re going to do it against a familiar foe.
Sault College will take on Assiniboine College in the title game in St. Louis.
The teams met for a pair of non-conference games in January with Assiniboine winning the opener by a 3-2 margin before the two teams skated to a 1-1 tie.
In the first meeting, Assiniboine goaltender Rachel Halldorson stopped 46 shots in the victory.
Sault College goaltender Farrah Farstad stopped 31 shots at the other end while Materia Land and Alyssa Byers completed the Sault scoring.
Goaltending also factored into the second game of the series as Halldorson stopped 51 shots in the tie while Cassidy Dobson made 46 saves for Sault College.
Emily Moore had the lone Sault College goal in the second game.
This year is also the third time in four years that the two teams have met in the national championship tournament.
Last year, Sault College beat Assiniboine 3-0 in the championship game to mark back-to-back title wins for the Sault-based school.
Sault College beat Northeastern in the 2023 national title game after the latter upset Assiniboine in overtime in semifinal play.
In the 2022 tournament, Assiniboine beat Sault College 3-1 in the final game of round robin play in a game that determined the winner of their pool. Assiniboine went on to win the national championship that year.
Puck drop for Tuesday’s national championship game is 2 p.m. Sault time.
Against Wisconsin on Monday in semifinal play, Sault College scored three times in the opening period en route to the win.
Farstad picked up the shutout, stopping 21 shots.
Annika Babineau had a pair of goals and assisted on another for Sault College against Wisconsin.
Matea Glavota, Hayden Dunn, and Katelynn Jacques also scored for Sault College.
Wisconsin goaltender Zoe Cole stopped 32 shots in the loss.
Assiniboine advanced to the final thanks to a 2-1 win over the United States Naval Academy in the other semifinal.