Sault College women's hockey team claims championship after undefeated season

In its first year playing against college teams south of the border, the Sault College women's hockey team had a literally perfect season. 

The team was up against schools with six times more students than the 4,000 at Sault College. And the Cougars beat them all. 

Sault College won 31 straight games, which wrapped up on Monday at the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 2 women's national championships, with a win over Northeastern University in Boston, MA. 

We have a lot of work to make sure that we continue this undefeated streak next season.– Brianne Shunock, head coach of Sault College's women's hockey team

"We had an undefeated season, which was amazing and very few teams can ever say that. Especially with the number of games we had," head coach Brianne Shunock said. 

"It was their goal all year and you could tell that they really manifested hoisting that trophy over their head."

It's only been a few seasons since Sault College decided to play in a league south of the border. 

"They wanted that extra motivation to have students come and play hockey for the college and get to experience playing top universities such as Notre Dame, Michigan State and so on," Shunock said. 

'Let it sink in'

Last season, Shunock said she was a brand new coach. The team won two of the three games at the national championship but ended up losing to Assiniboine Community College. 

"This year we knew that we had done some really strong recruiting and we knew that we had seniors that had already been to the national championship. So they looked at that as motivation for this season," she said.  

After winning this year's championship, Shunock told the team: "Let that sink in. You're undefeated. You have 31 wins and that trophy is sitting beside our captain as she's driving home right now." 

Shunock said the undefeated season has led the team to grow and has helped put Sault College "on the map." 

"We have a lot of work to make sure that we continue this undefeated streak next season," she said. 

Shunock told CBC News she's been celebrating by exploring Boston with her husband, before they take a well-deserved vacation to Florida. 

She said that she "politely" asked her players to not to text or phone her for the next few days. 

"I think now is when the emotion is really setting in. I've had time to decompress after the full week of the championships," she said. 

Even so, it hasn't stopped Shunock from thinking about next season. The ACHA National Championship will be in St. Louis, MO.