Flyers blanked in SOSSA final
Eden goalie Claire Rose saw her high school field hockey career come to an end Wednesday at Governor Simcoe with a 3-0 loss to the Saltfleet Storm in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association final.
“It is really tough,” the 17-year-old said. “They are great team and they deserve it. They played really well but so did we. We hustled all through the season and played some really good games.”
She is going to miss the sport a ton.
“It is such a unique sport and I have never played anything like it. I play hockey outside of school and this is so different and so nice, especially being a goalie because it is such a different view of the game and it is so cool to watch.”
The Grade 12 student has enjoyed the field hockey experience at Eden, a school that has captured five straight Niagara Region High School Athletic Association titles.
“It is not just a team. It is more of a family,” she said. “Every year we have more than 50 girls on the team whether they are practice squad or second team and Mo (head coach Charlotte Morrison) is so passionate the sport that it literally jells us all together.”
Rose started out in Grade 9 as a player but quickly switched to goalie and was the second team’s goalie. She has been the starter on the first team in 2019 and 2021.
“I decided to try it just for fun and I was pretty naturally OK with it. I excelled at it and I continue to practice as a goalie and here I am today still in the pads and still between the pipes. It is a good gig and I never expected it to happen,” Rose said.
It is a far different gig than ice hockey where she plays centre good enough that she is considering a number of NCAA Division 1 scholarship offers.
Morrison loved having Rose on her team.
“She is not a natural goalie but she decided she would step in and be a goaltender for us. She is absolutely phenomenal at it.”
Rose is also part of a phenomenal leadership group.
“With having 75 girls (at tryouts), Claire was another one. She was in net as the young girls did the drills and she asking their names, getting them involved and enthusiastic about the sport,” Morrison said. “Claire had been a real leader as has Briar (Tallman), Erica (Bowen) and Keifer (Janzen).
“We have gotten really lucky that our seniors are stepping up to be very inclusive of all the young girls coming and fostering a great environment to play in.”
That is crucial given the sheer volume of players on the Eden team.
“Even with three amazing coaches, there is still a lot of things to do because these girls are learning the game from scratch,” Morrison said. “It’s not like volleyball or basketball where they are coming in with a base knowledge. They don’t have a clue about any of the rules.”
When field hockey was last played in high school in 2019, Eden lost the SOSSA final to Saltfleet in double overtime.
“You saw their skills, especially in that one player (Canada NextGen team member Mallory Mackesy) there. She has to be one of the best high school players in Ontario and our girls played really strong and hard,” Morrison said. “In some ways, it is nice that we didn’t have another shootout loss and the heartache of that but our girls played so well. Even though the score made it look like it wasn’t a close game, it was much closer game and I look forward to coaching all these girls again next year.”
Eden will lose a few players to graduation but there is large number of girls waiting in the wings for bigger roles.
“We will have a strong core coming back for sure,” Morrison said.
She was happy that the team was able to be back on the field
“It is good to be back out here. I was worried and hesitant about whether it could be done safely but I was so glad all the teams were able to run safe programs and we haven’t had any illness as a result of COVID.”
Saltfleet has made several appearances at OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championship), including an eighth-place showing in 2019. The school’s best result is antique bronze.
The Storm had seven players graduate leaving behind a very young team and a couple of ultra-talented veterans.
“Honestly it is so surprising but I am so proud,” Storm coach Kristina Alderdice said. “Our goal this year was if he could make it to our city championship that would be great. We won it, we came here and had nothing to lose and we won SOSSA. That is fantastic.”
STATS PACK
Storm 3 Flyers 0
Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: Saltfleeet’s Mallory Mackesy with two goals.
For the Salfleet Storm: Mackesy (2); Hadley Diskos. Shutout by Skyler Cooper.
For the Eden Flyers: No scoring.
