Women's hockey team at Montreal CEGEP saved after renowned program put on ice

The past two weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for 19-year-old Mégan Miron, but she's riding a high now that her women's hockey team at CEGEP de Saint-Laurent has been saved. 

The official player count on the team's roster now stands at 18, the threshold for the resumption of the program.

"I'm happy I'm going to be back on the ice and that I don't have to cut my career," said Morin, 19. 

The elite hockey player, who's played three seasons with the Patriotes, believed her competitive career was over after her school announced its women's hockey program wouldn't be back on the ice for the foreseeable future because of problems recruiting players.

After a wave of backlash from current and former hockey players, as well as elected officials, the team got a glimmer of hope last week when CEGEP officials backtracked on the decision, but only if it could secure more players to line up the next season.

"It was a lot of up and down. They said they were probably going to shut it down, then they told us they're shutting it down, then it wasn't confirmed. There was a lot of hope ... a lot of emotion all over the place," said Miron, who had denounced the situation in a letter sent to two Liberal MNAs. 

Over the weekend, new head coach Daniel Continelli confirmed the Patriotes had managed to reach the minimum number of players to keep the game going. 

"Next step is to try to find one to two more players to improve the team," he said. 

Officials at the CEGEP cited issues recruiting players and coaches as the reason for terminating the team  — one of the oldest collegiate hockey programs for women in the province.

Five members of the coaching staff were either fired or quit after the last season, including head coach Alexandria