For the fourth time in as many years, the Sault College Cougars have laid claim to the ACHA (American Collegiate Hockey Association) Division II women's title, edging the Assiniboine College Cougars (Winnipeg, MB) 1-0 in Maryland Heights, Missouri (just outside of St Louis) last month.
And for the nth time in as many years, graduates of the Sudbury Lady Wolves program has been front and centre in the team’s success.
The championship encounter spoke volumes in support of this statement.
Just 59 seconds into the gold medal clash, Lively District Secondary School graduate Payton Stos found the back of the net, with few if any of those in attendance at the Centene Community Ice Centre expecting that this would spell the end of the scoring for the evening.
Sault College netminder and St Charles College product Farrah Farstad, however, had other ideas, turning aside all 29 shots that she faced as the Ontario-based Cougars celebrated their final year of participation in this particular loop (explanation to follow shortly) in fine fashion.
At the end of the day, the bookending of the victory featured a very clear and definite Sudbury flavour, with both players fully aware that they may be called upon to be difference makers in this encounter.
“We wanted a goal on our very first shift,” recalled Stos, a 19 year old General Arts & Science major. “Before we got on the ice, our line was like: we gotta score, we’ve got to get that first goal. Our whole team plays better if we get the first one. Taryn (Sullivan) took it down the boards and hit me just above the hashmarks.”
“I just shot it and it went in,” added Stos.
Nobody on the Assiniboine side of the ice could make that same claim thanks in large part to the efforts of Farstad, a 20 year-old graduate of the Civil Engineering Technician program who opted to return for a third year (and a second degree) in order to pursue a personal on-ice three-peat.
“Something I really worked on was keeping my level of focus high throughout an entire game,” said Farstad, who welcomed Payton Stos, Katelynn Jacques, Gracie Dale, Materia Land and Ava Bois to the Lady Wolves alumni network who now reunite in the Sault College dressing room.
“It can get tricky staying focused when there’s not a lot of action. I focus on visualizing plays and always moving and not dazing out, working on my mental approach to the game.”
For as much as the “just down Highway 17 West” Cougars fully expected a very good match with Assiniboine, the Sault having recorded a 1-0 win against that same adversary back in November in North Dakota, their 2025-2026 schedule featured no less than seven games in which the Division II juggernaut potted double digit goal totals, with another five games decided by seven goals or more.
All of which made the news that came out in November that much more exciting, the Sault College women’s hockey program finally having been granted acceptance into the ACHA Division I ranks beginning with the 2026-2027 campaign.
“It’s hard to focus when you’re playing teams you know you will win,” said Payton Stos. “It’s much more fun to travel and go and play a team that you might lose against. The girls on the team are excited for that. It will be exciting to be in the room and be nervous before a game.”
It’s a feeling that Farrah Farstad is not willing to pass up.
With the chance to complete her second degree and enjoy far more games where she has the opportunity to more directly influence the outcome of the contest, the well-spoken puck-stopper who combined her on-ice excellence with a pair of city titles in mixed badminton during her time with the SCC Cardinals has decided to return for a fourth year of collegiate competition.
“I’m hoping to get a lot more shots than the past three years,” said Farstad.
With any luck, she will create more special moments like the one that she and her teammates experienced when the final buzzer sounded against Assiniboine.
“Near the end of the third period, I was playing my rebounds to the corner, covering pucks when I needed to,” she said. “That was something I was really proud of.”
Just as the Sudbury District Girls Hockey Association is rightfully proud of their ACHA Division II champions – all six of them, and those who came before.
