The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "It was a combination of excitement and relief," the netminder said of the goal that gave RIT the College Hockey America title with a 2-1 victory Saturday in Erie, Pa., "but definitely more excitement." Less than two years after making the jump to Division 1 women's hockey, the Tigers won the CHA championship by beating a team that pummeled them in their debut 17 months earlier. Binnington, who surrendered two goals to Mercyhurst in the first 18 seconds of her D1 career, held the Lakers to just one goal in 93 minutes and 35 seconds, stopping 62 shots along the way. As impressive as her performance was in the final -- earning her playoff MVP honours -- it was merely an exclamation point on a stretch run that saw her win seven straight while posting an 0.78 goals-against average and a .975 save percentage (stopping 237 of 243 shots). "Ali's been a huge part of our success," Grigg said. "She's really the backbone of the team, not just in the playoffs. She's been amazing all year." "That's the best part of the season," said Binnington, who also earned CHA goaltender-of-the-year honours. "The end of the year was all really big games. Even Syracuse at the end of the regular season determined our seeding. Every point "Connected to your Community" HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com 25 | Thursday, March 13, 2014 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com Oakville players star in an epic Tigers tale Grigg scores OT winner, Binnington makes 61 saves as RIT claims women's hockey conference crown by Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver Staff L indsay Grigg stepped on the ice and headed directly for the Mercyhurst end of the ice. It was the latter stages of the second overtime period. After almost eight full periods of hockey against two nationally-ranked opponents in the last 23 hours, Grigg was feeling the effects. As she approached the opposition's zone, her Rochester Institute of Technology teammate Mackenzie Stone knocked her opponent off the puck and slid it back toward the blueline. Grigg arrived at the line at the same time as the puck. She didn't hestitate. She wound up and fired a low one-timer that made its way though traffic in front and eluded the blocker of the Mercyhurst goalie. "I saw it go in, but I didn't really process what had happened," Grigg said. "I just stared for a few seconds and then thought, `Wow, it really did go in." At the other end of the ice, there was no hesitation. Before the rest of her Tiger teammates could leap over the boards, junior goalie Ali Binnington was already racing toward the player she had known since they were teammates with the Oakville Hornets' tykes. Oakville Hornets products Ali Binnington (left) and Lindsay Grigg (second from left) played major roles in the Rochester Institute of Technology women's hockey team's College Hockey America championship win last weekend. Binnington stopped 62 of 63 shots she faced in the final against Mercyhurst, while Grigg scored the game-winning goal in double overtime. | photo courtesy of RIT mattered." Ineligible for NCAA tournament For any other team, the victory would most likely have earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. Instead, due to a two-year probationary period for teams entering D1, RIT won't advance. It was something the Tigers knew from the beginning of the year -- and a month ago, it didn't appear that it would be much of an issue. The Tigers were just a couple of games above .500 and fourth in the six-team league. Then, on Feb. 15, Binnington shut out Robert Morris, then ranked No. 9 in the country. The next weekend, RIT swept Syracuse, with Grigg setting up the overtime winner in the regular-season finalé to clinch third place. A two-game sweep of Penn State in the opening round of the playoffs sent the Tigers to the championship weekend. Buoyed by its earlier win over Robert Morris, RIT struck for two goals in the first eight minutes of Saturday's semifinal on its way to a 4-1 victory. That set the stage for the championship game the following afternoon against No. 8 Mercyhurst, a team RIT had beaten only once in eight tries over the past two seasons. "We knew it was our last game," Grigg said. "Our coach (Oakville native Scott McDonald) told us to play like it was our NCAA championship. For us, it was as big as it gets." Grigg has made a habit of delivering in the big games. A converted forward who has spent much of her time on the blueline at RIT, she has just 13 career goals, but they include the two biggest overtime markers in RIT history -- the first coming two years ago in the national Division 3 semifinals. "She's definitely an impact player," Binnington said. "It was good to see someone who works as hard as she does get rewarded." Grigg's work did not go unno- ticed. She finished fourth among all defencemen in the regular season with 19 points and led the league with 111 blocked shots to earn a spot on the CHA second all-star team. She added all-tournament honours as, in addition to scoring the winner, she assisted on RIT's first goal and blocked 12 shots, half as many as the Mercyhurst goalie. RIT, including Oakville freshman Lindsay Stenason, will be eligible for the NCAA tournament next season. But even if the Tigers can't replicate their playoff run, they've already accomplished enough to fill a career. "All the juniors were talking about how we've been so lucky," Binnington said. "First, we had the privilege of winning a national championship, then to go through the transition to Division 1, and now this. It's incredible how the program has developed and to be able to be a part of pushing it in the right direction." -- Herb Garbutt can be followed on Twitter @Herbgarbutt