The St. Albert Slash are basking in the glow of Tyra Meropoulis’ golden goal as national champions.
The overtime hero was the only scorer in the Esso Cup midget AAA female final against the Harfangs du Triolet (Quebec) of Sherbrooke on a historic Saturday night in Morden, Man.
“It’s crazy. It almost didn’t seem like it actually happened,” said Meropoulis, who was floating on cloud nine a few days later. “It’s still hard to believe right now.”
The Slash were awestruck by their accomplishment as the best team in Canada.
“It’s still sinking in,” said left-winger Isabelle Lajoie. “From the start of the year we kind of knew we had something special but if you would’ve asked us at the start if we would’ve been the first team to go 7-0 and the first team in Alberta to bring back the Esso Cup, I think we all wouldn’t have really thought that.”
The pre-tournament favorites at the ninth annual Esso Cup lived up to the hype as the team to beat.
“We were ranked No. 1 coming in but we didn’t really think about that during the tournament, it was just take one game at a time, so to make history it’s pretty cool,” said left-winger MacKenzie Reynolds. “We worked so hard for this and just to be able to accomplish it is amazing.
“There was a sigh of relief and jubilation.”
The post-game celebration was an emotional roller-coaster for the Slash.
“When Tyra scored that final goal it was just so surreal that we were national champions,” said right-winger MaKenna Schuttler. “It was so emotional. There were definitely some tears of happiness but also sadness because our season is over. We became a family over these eight months and that was our final game together.
“We spent lots of nights at the rink and lots of girls had to travel from far places to go everywhere so it was a huge commitment,” Schuttler added. “With all the long bus rides and the tournaments it was tough and even the Esso Cup, the whole week was such a grind, but I know every one of us would say that we would do it all again. It was just so worth it at the end.”
The journey to greatness started with the formation of the Slash roster, 20 players from 13 locations of residency, for the inaugural Alberta Female Hockey League, a six-team circuit that replaced the nine-team Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
“Ever since the first day of tryouts and even the first day the team was made we just clicked. We knew we could win it all and we just stuck together as a family. We all had the same goal in mind. We were all great friends and a great family. We knew we had a job and we could get it down together,” netminder Camryn Drever.
The Slash pulled it together at nationals to go undefeated and the last two wins were consecutive 1-0 playoff results.
“All the girls stepped up to be the best players they could be and that just had a huge impact on us going 7-0,” said Lajoie, a Grade 10 Bellerose Composite High School student.
Madison Willan potted the only goal 57 seconds into the opening period in Friday’s semifinal against the Durham West (Ontario) Lightning a day after the Slash ended the round robin with a 7-3 win against Durham West.
“It was nice we scored early on. We were able to manage the game and we knew that we still had that goal,” said Reynolds, a Grade 12 student at Sturgeon Composite High School. “In the final it felt like there was a lot more pressure but we were all up for it. It was also mentally tough because we’ve never gone that long without scoring so obviously there are doubts that occur but you’ve got to push those back and continue to think positive.
“Both games were physically tough because they were the sixth and seventh games in seven days.”
Drever, 16, backstopped the Slash in the playoffs with 20 saves in the semifinal and faced 28 shots during the 75-minute gold-medal match for her fourth shutout in five starts at nationals.
Drever allowed only one goal to slip past her and it was scored 6:13 into the second game for the Slash, 2-1 over the host Pembina Valley Hawks, as the Grade 11 Ross Sheppard High School student was tested 29 times in her second start of the tournament.
“After letting in that one goal I was like, OK, this is it,” Drever said. “I came in wanting to win, wanting to stop every puck and wanting to beat every team and it did help having all 20 girls and of all our coaching staff there with me helping me and staying positive of course, always helps.”
Drever was the obvious choice for the tournament’s top goaltender award.
“Playing in five games and only letting in one goal in those five games is absolutely incredible,” Lajoie said.
“My teammates helped me win that one,” Drever added. “They were so solid in front of me the whole tournament and the whole season really and I was thankful they could help me with that opportunity.”
Driver’s ninth shutout of the season in league play (two), AFHL provincials (two) and the best-of-three Pacific regional series (one) was the national final and it was the best of the bunch.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking. I’ve never been in a situation like that before,” said the Edmonton Thunder netminder last season in the AMMFHL. “Having all of my teammates there with me who also have never been in that situation before I think we all agreed if we all struck to our game plan and believed in each other it would help us get through it.
“It was just really important for me to stay focused in the game because every shot counts and in this case it did count.”
Shots were 14-3 in the first and 15-8 in the second for the Slash. Both teams were credited with eight shots in the third and in overtime it was 9-7 for the Harfangs du Triolet before Meropoulis lit the lamp at the 14:41 mark with the team’s 45th shot.
“Going into overtime and having it 0-0 when we had so many chances to score, we kind of had the hope that goal was coming,” said Lajoie, 16. “It was a beautiful goal. We were all just so excited. It was incredible.”
The Slash captain from Edson converted a pass by Willan to end the suspense.
“We were on a two-on-two and Madison dropped the puck back for me to pick up and I toe-dragged around their defenceman to go top shelf,” Meropoulis said. “It was an amazing feeling.”
The AFHL’s player of the year was buzzing on the top line centering Willan, an Edmonton product and the team’s leading scorer at nationals with five goals and 10 points, and Cassidy Maplethorpe of Wetaskiwin.
“I had a couple of chances early on,” Meropoulis said. “(In overtime) I saw an opening and let the shot go.”
The Slash also killed off a penalty to Willan for goaltender interference that carried over into overtime.
“Once we killed it we had to score. It was down to one goal and any bounce could end it,” said Meropoulis, 17, a Grade 11 student and former PAC Saint in the AMMFHL.
The tension of the sudden-death period was overwhelming, according to Schuttler, 15.
“We were biting our fingernails. It was just so nerve-wracking,” said the Grade 10 Bellerose student and teammate of Lajoie on the 2015/16 bantam AAA female St. Albert Raiders. “We were cheering each other on. We all just wanted to win so we all put our best foot forward but the nerves were incredible. When they would go down the ice and get a chance we would all close our eyes or even when we went down the ice. It was crazy.”
Leading up to the playoff round were wins of 6-0 against the Mid Isle Wildcats (Atlantic) of Summerside, P.E.I. (0-5), the one-goal decision against Pembina Valley (3-2) as Schuttler broke a 1-1 tie midway through the middle period, 4-3 against the Harfangs du Triolet (3-2), 4-0 against the Prince Albert (West) Bears (2-3) as Lajoie, the player of the game, posted one goal and one assist, and the four-goal verdict against Durham West (2-3).
“Whenever I think of the tournament I just think of us coming together and singing between periods and just being together as a team,” Lajoie said.
Reynolds, a third-year Slash player, credited the team’s performance against Pembina Valley on Monday with setting the tone for the championship triumph.
“We watched them the night before and we noticed how strong they were as a team and the support from their town made them so much stronger so it was a big accomplishment when we beat them. It was kind of a sigh of relief just because we beat the hometown team,” said the only returning Slash player from the 10-16-6 AMMFHL team.
This season the Slash finished first at 27-2-1 in the AFHL before going 2-2 at provincials and in the national qualifier swept the Greater Vancouver Comets by scores of 2-0 and 3-2 in St. Albert.
The Slash, a St. Albert Raiders Hockey Club team that made its debut in the 2004/05 season, competed at its second Esso Club but the first as the Pacific rep after hosting nationals in 2011.
