Making Mr. P proud

Trinity Clark was the perfect choice to score the overtime winner Tuesday in a 4-3 victory by the West Niagara Wolfpack girls hockey team over the Saltfleet Storm in the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA championship game at the Grimsby Peach King Centre.

“She was my leader back in Grade 9 and last year she was in Grade 10 and I told her she was going to be our captain,” West Niagara head coach Roger Piotrowski said. “I have always told her that she has so much potential and the only person who is going to hold her back is herself. She left it all out there today and she had a nice talk with the team. She told me ‘I am going to do it for you’ because it is one of my last years and to get to OFSAA (Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations) is so hard. She is an awesome kid from an awesome family.”

The winning goal came with 1:21 left in overtime when Trinity’s younger sister, Megan, came out of the penalty box and set her up for the winner.

“I was really happy for my team and for coach Mr. P because he is retiring this year. Our boys lost in the zone finals and we all wanted to band together and win it for him.”

Mr. P is A OK with the West Niagara girls.

“He has been with us for a long time and he is just super committed and dedicated even outside of the rink,” Trinity Clark said. “He is always there to talk and he always shows up for not only his players but his students. It is a nice thing to do for him in his last year.”

The travel player with Stoney Creek Sabres Under-18 team has enjoyed the process that has finally gotten the Wolfpack to OFSAA.

“A lot of the Grade 11s have been playing together for a while and last year we had two Grade 12s and no Grade 11s,” the 16-year-old said. “This year, we don’t have any Grade 12s and it is kind of the core group of us that have gone up together through high school and we play field hockey together. We have always lost at SOSSA or going to SOSSA so for us to win is special.”

Clark is excited to play at OFSAA.

“We are a competitive group so we want to win it but overall we just want to put our best foot forward. In some of our games we haven’t come out as strong this year so it’s working hard every single game to make Mr. P proud.”

The girls will be the first West Niagara hockey team to play for an OFSAA title.

“This is a neat opportunity and I know a lot of the girls are really excited,” Clark said.

Saltfleet gave the Wolfpack all it could handle sending the game into overtime with an empty-net goal with 1:26 left on the clock.

“It was very exciting and intense,” Piotrowski said. “They are a good team and it was two good teams playing.”

West Niagara played its best hockey when it mattered the most.

“They started to develop some chemistry towards the middle of the season and towards the end we started to come together really hard. The kids have played hard all year and we have had difficulty with one team only and we were able to come out on top,” he said.

Piotrowski realized two years ago that the 2023-24 version of the Wolfpack had the potential to qualify for OFSAA.

“We knew the Grade 9s were coming up in two years. We had a good stock of Grade 9s two years ago and we thought two years from then it was going to be a great team. We almost made it last year. We lost to our rivals in town (Blessed Trinity) and this year was our turn.”

He feels the strength of team is its closeness.

“They are a big family. They don’t want people to sit. We weren’t going to dress everybody and they said, ‘No. We are one together.’ So we dressed the whole team.”

Members of the team are Katie Cairns, Trinity Clark, Megan Clark, Libby Dysart, Madison Frlan, Charlie Gibson, Madelynn Herkes, Jasmine Hrbljan, Madeline Hunter, Samantha Kossek, Alaina Kot, Kaycie Nicholls, Amelia Norton, Macy Parker, Brittany Patterson, Briar Smith, Abby Ste. Croix, Natalie VanderVelde, Maddie Walker and Rebekah Woodland.

STATS PACK

Wolfpack 4 Storm 3 (OT)

Cat’s Caboose Player of the Game: West Niagara captain Trinity Clark with the overtime winner.

For the West Niagara Wolfpack: Clark, Maddie Walker, Abby Ste. Croix and Samantha Kossek.

For the Saltfleet Storm: Peyton Anzivino, Cyleigh Corby and Samantha Biaj.

Up next: West Niagara advances to the OFSAA AAA championships March 19-21 in Brooklin.

SEMIFINALS

WOLFPACK 4 MARAUDERS 1

Briar Smith scored twice to lead the West Niagara Wolfpack to a 4-1 win over the A.N. Myer Marauders in SOSSA semifinal action Tuesday.

Also scoring for the Wolfpack were Megan Clark and Abby Ste. Croix.

Mia Wilson scored the lone goal for A.N. Myer.

STORM 5 MUSTANGS 3