WOMEN'S HOCKEY
FIRST TRIP TO PROVINCIALS PAYS FOR COCHRANE
By Bob Ferguson, Citizen sports writer
Monday, April 22, 1996

URL: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/online/1996/April22/Sports/spor5/spor5.html


The team from the Northern Ontario town of Cochrane was young and
inexperienced, and who could blame them?

After all, they were playing in their first provincial women's hockey
championships.

Today, however, they head home gold-medal champions in the peewee C
division after Sunday's stunning 1-0 triple-overtime victory over
Kitchener.

"In our wildest dreams we never envisioned this," said Cochrane coach
J.P. Cousineau. "We've only been playing girls' hockey for three
years, and this was our first-ever try for an Ontario title.

"We got a bye into the provincials because there wasn't another peewee
C girls' team in our region. We looked at this as an opportunity to
gain some experience against teams from bigger centres. Winning was
not part of our dreams. We just wanted to be competitive."

They were all of that and then some as they rolled up six victories -
five by shutouts. It was the first provincial crown in any sport for
Cochrane.

Team captain Helene Cousineau, the coach's eldest daughter, scored on
a breakaway at the 8:56 mark of the third overtime.

The Cochrane team is a family affair for the Cousineaus. Besides coach
J.P. and captain Helene, daughter Josée, at 11 the youngest player on
the squad, and mother Diane, the team manager and treasurer, are
involved.

"A lot of our success is due to the play of Line Robitaille," said
Cousineau. "She's our one and only goalie, and she's terrific. She
allowed just one goal in six games. That's hard to beat. I'm so
pleased for the girls."

Overtime again was a factor when captain Tricia Harrison scored in the
second overtime as Brantford edged Cornwall 5-4 for the peewee A
crown.

Ottawa-area teams earned four of the 12 titles, with the host National
Capitals organization winning the midget and intermediate A crowns.

Stephanie Romain scored 4:26 into the second period to give the
National Capital squad a 1-0 victory over London in the midget A
final. Joyce Torrington recorded the shutout.

Tara Ferguson's goal paced National Capital over the North York Aeros
2-1 for the intermediate A title.

Nepean claimed the intermediate C championship by nipping Kitchener
3-2, and Ottawa Bel-Air earned midget C laurels by topping Brantford
4-1.

Durham won the peewee B crown edging Leaside 2-1 but bowed 2-0 to
Toronto in the midget B final.

Belleville teams won two championships, taking the intermediate B
title 4-1 over Niagara Falls and the senior C 2-0 over Stoney Creek.

Newtonbrook, coached by national team veteran Angela James, had no
trouble disposing of London 7-1 in the senior A title game, but their
senior B entry lost 3-2 to Peterborough.


Copyright © 1996 The Ottawa Citizen

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