A pair of local coaches worked together to capture gold for Team Ontario Red at the U18 Women's National Championship, beating Quebec 1-0 in the final Saturday night that took place in Quispamsis, New Brunswick.
North Bay native Joe Butkevich, the head coach, led the team to gold for the second year in a row.
"What a week, what an outcome," Joe stated on social media.
"Natty Champs, we go step by step and back to back at U18 Nationals," added Butkevich, who is the head coach of the Etobicoke Dolphins in the Provincial Women's Hockey League along with coaching the Polish National Team.
Meantime, Kiara Jefferies, who is an assistant coach with the Nipissing Lakers varsity women's hockey team and president with the North Bay & District Girls Hockey Association.
"It was an unreal experience and week representing Team Ontario in Quispamsis, NB at the U18 Women’s National Championship," she said.
"Thank you to Hockey Canada and OWHA Hockey for another amazing opportunity and experience."
Ontario Red has captured gold in 14 of the 15 national championships since the inaugural tournament in 2001, while Quebec earned its ninth silver medal and third since 2016.
Dorothy Copetti broke the deadlock, redirecting a point shot from Alex Therien (Greely, ON/Nepean, OWHA U22 Elite) to give Ontario Red the only goal it would need, and the Ontarians held on for the one goal shutout.
“That is the biggest goal of my life,” Copetti said in a Hockey Canada release.
“Hockey doesn’t last forever in life—it’s only going to be a small part of my life—but this memory, scoring that goal, winning this tournament with this team is something that I will think about with so much pride for the rest of my life.”
Amelia Wilkinson (Holland Landing, ON/Barrie, OWHA U22 Elite) won the goaltending dual with a 35-save performance for the shutout, while Quebec netminder Marilou Grenier (Quebec, QC/Limoilou, RSEQ) turned in another fantastic performance, making 22 saves.
“We showed a ton of resilience tonight,” said Ontario Red captain Maxine Cimoroni (Toronto, ON/Mississauga, OWHA U22 Elite). “ I don’t think the first two periods were our best, but when we got that first goal, we knew we could lock it down. We blocked a lot of shots and really gutted out the win.”
"It gives great pleasure to announce that our son Joe Butkevich has just won the National Championship with the u18 women's hockey team, furthermore it's a repeat... back-to-back National Championships for Joe with team Ontario Red...they swept the tournament undefeated with a goal difference of 27 goals for and 5 against...I'm taking a page from our son to try and inspire young girls to be inspired by a local boy doing amazing things within the world of women's hockey," added Peter Butkevich.
