Coming up at Sault College
Sault College Cougars will be making a move up within the Division 3, American Collegiate Hockey Association effective the 2018-2019 season.
As the only Canadian-based team, Sault College has been accepted as a member of the ACHA’s Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference for next season.
Mark Hebert, who recently took over as the director of hockey operations at Sault College, said the Cougars are planning on a schedule of up to 30 games for the 2018-2019 season.
The 2017-2018 campaign was the official debut season for Sault College as members of the ACHA and the Cougars responded with a very impressive record of 12-1-2 under long-time, successful, Sault Ste. Marie major midget coach Mike Hall.
The reputable Hall is looking forward to continuing his association with Sault College as the head coach of its rising hockey program.
“We’re really excited about next season,” Hall told Hockey News North. “We return a lot of players … we have a good nucleus coming back and Mark (Hebert) and (assistant coach) Rod (Trudel) have been busy new recruiting players. So, we should have another competitive team.”
Having had his first look at the ACHA last season, Hall said the Cougars hope to build on their strong performance from 2017-2018.
“It was a really good learning experience for us,” Hall noted. “We got to see who the stronger and weaker teams are and looking ahead to the next season, we want to try to schedule games against as many of the best teams as possible.”
And with the aforementioned Hebert just recently brought on board to oversee the hockey operations, expectations for success will continue at Sault College.
“Building upon this success (from the 2017-2018 season) we are looking to achieve even greater goals next season, by building a highly-ranked, national team,” said Hebert.
Towards that goal, the hockey Cougars have scheduled a spring prospect camp that will coincide with open house tours at Sault College on April 13-14.
“This will allow the student-athletes the opportunity to skate for two sessions, tour the
college campus and have any hockey or academic questions answered all in the same weekend,” Hebert noted. “Furthermore, the players and their parents will be able to meet the coaches, athletic and management staff as well as academic advisers.”
The spring prospects camp is set for Friday, April 13 from 7-9 p.m. and Saturday, April 14 from 5-7 p.m. at Rankin Arena.
The open house at Sault College has been set up on the Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Registration for the spring skate can be done on-line via https://www.saultcollege.ca/Athletics/MHockey.asp.
Registration for the open house can be done via https://www.saultcollege.ca/OpenHouse/.
This is a fantastic opportunity for players who want to continue their hockey careers while pursuing careers in education at the same time. It is equivalent to a D-3 schooling which is to some not affordable in the States. With a new and improved schedule of teams in a better conference brings top quality competition at a much more affordable cost.
The new management group and with the full backing of Soo College is something that has been lacking for much too long in a combination of sport and education in our Canadian system at the college level.