A good ten to fifteen minutes after her game had ended, 14 year-old Jordan Brouse was still grinning from ear to ear.
Scoring a tournament-winning goal by going top shelf on a breakaway with 0.4 seconds to play in four on four overtime will tend to elicit this type of reaction.
“The defense dropped the puck and I just took it,” recounted Brouse, her U15 Sudbury Lady Wolves Green house-league team earning a Snowflake Challenge banner with a 2-1 win over Lady Wolves Blue. “I wasn’t even thinking.”
“My coaches had told me about deking but I just saw the open space and shot it. I didn’t even pay attention to the time.”
Teammate Ava Weiss had scored earlier in the game, converting on a pass from Mila Roy as Team Green flipped the script on a 2-1 loss Saturday night to the same opponent in their final round robin affair.
The moment was especially exciting for Brouse, a grade nine student at Collège Notre-Dame who made the jump to girls hockey for the first time this year after spending much of her youth hockey career on the boys side with teams in Onaping Falls and Rayside-Balfour.
“It was hard last year,” said Brouse. “I was alone in my dressing room. I had no puck time at all. It really wasn’t that much fun.”
By the sounds of the screams emanating from the dressing room, the pleasant young teen is finding the early parts of the 2025-2026 campaign far more enjoyable. “I have made so many more friends” said Brouse, who admitted she knew only one of her new teammates when she first registered in the fall.
“It’s such a change. And this year, I have a lot more puck time – and I’m really good with assists.”
As it turns out, both ice surfaces at the Gerry McCrory Sports Complex were home to some overtime drama as the annual tournament hosted by the Sudbury & District Girls Hockey Association drew to a close late Sunday afternoon. Maxyme Brulé sniped home the winner on the very first shift of period number four as Sudbury Lady Wolves Red claimed the U18 house-league title with a 1-0 win over the Hearst Ice Cats.
Lydia Gallinger stopped all shots directed her way, posting the shutout for the winners who avenged a 2-1 preliminary round loss to Lady Wolves Blue, stomping their local rivals 6-1 in the semi-finals in a match that featured the very first goal of the year from Willow Lamy.
The tournament champs welcomed first year head coach Katie Pilotte behind the bench this year, the long-time member of a variety of Sudbury Lady Wolves’ teams jumping aboard to guide her younger sister (Tessa) through her final season of minor hockey play.
“We have a lot of the older girls on our team, in their last year, so we’re trying to make it as much fun as possible for the girls,” noted coach Katie. “We have a very strong team.”
And one that just seemed to improve with every passing game these past three days.
“We gelled a lot this weekend,” said Pilotte. “Girls hockey tournaments really help to bring the team together. I thought we were much closer this weekend and are playing better now as a team.”
As for words of wisdom, the moment spoke for itself as the newcomer to the role which sees all eyes fixated in her direction found some sort of direction she could provide as her girls prepared for the four on four sudden-victory showdown.
“I kind of just told the girls it’s now or never,” said Pilotte. “If we want the goal, we’ve got to do it now. And on the very first shift of overtime, the girls got it done.”
The U13 house-league hardware would make its way back to Sault Ste Marie as Eye Deal Optical blanked Team Floreani 5-0 while the U11 bragging rights were earned by the Lock City youngsters from Team AtomMC Teal, 5-3 winners over Timber Mart.
