The puck has dropped on St. Clair College's first season as a member of the Ontario College Recreational (OCR) hockey circuit with both women's and men's teams hitting the ice.
"It's exciting, because most of us never thought we'd be on a team with girls our age again," said Chloe McCann, a first-year Nursing student at St. Clair College.
McCann, a Goalie, has played hockey since she was a kid but with no varsity option for hockey at St. Clair, she figured her playing days would be limited to beer leagues moving forward. But she and other players in the OCR league know that's no longer the case.
The Saints Student Athletic Association (SSAA), which operates all intramural sports and clubs at St. Clair College, first discussed starting an extramural hockey team through OCR four years ago, and the idea finally got enough traction to launch in 2026.
"You take your best intramural players, you make teams of them and play a few tournaments against other schools – it's not just drop in," explained Eric Dominguez, the events coordinator with SSAA. "Our goal is to make our OCR athletes feel as close to varsity as we can. It's not going to be varsity, but we're trying to treat them as much as we can like that."
The women's team just wrapped up its first ever tournament last week in Durham. Team member Paige Poland, pictured here, scored the first goal in Saints OCR women's hockey history during one of their games.
Although the women's team didn't come away with a victory during their first tournament, the squad – with little practice time together – was able to hang with some well-established teams from other colleges.
"It was our first attempt at it in any way, with volunteer coaches and playing one tournament, we were still pretty happy with the results," said Dominguez, who noted there is a fee to play on the men's and women's extramural squads.
McCann also said it brings more to college life as an out-of-town student, providing new ways to connect with other students outside of her program.
"It's good to get out of class, and I've met so many new people that I didn't even know were here," McCann said. "I'm pretty far from home, and all of us come from a different background, so it's really cool."
The men's team takes to the ice for their first tournament on Jan. 22 at Fanshawe College and all games are live streamed on the SSAA's Instagram account.
"I'm hopeful that we can show it to the rest of the students on campus, because I bet you there's still a lot of people that have no clue that it's happening," Dominguez said. "I'm sure that they'd have just as much interest as everyone who's doing it right now."
After the initial tournament, men's and women's teams will next partake in a regional tournament and if successful, can move on to the provincials in London this March.
"This season will be really interesting and we're going to make it as fun as possible for the players that are doing this inaugural season," Dominguez added.
"Four years ago, we didn't think we'd get this far. So, four years from now, I'm really excited to see where it's going to be."
