Collège Notre-Dame (Sudbury)

Collège Notre-Dame is a Public Separate high school in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The school is part of the Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Nouvel-Ontario and has a student population as of 31 October 2012 of 631.^[2] It is one of four French Catholic high schools in the Sudbury region and is renowned for its academic excellence and its sports teams, particularly basketball, flag football, football, gymnastics, and hockey.

History

The school was founded in 1948 as le Pensionnat Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil. Originally an all-girls school, boys were finally allowed to attend after the closure of Collège du Sacré-Cœur in the late 1960s. Le Collège du Sacré-Cœur is now known as École secondaire du Sacré-Cœur and is the other French Catholic high school in the city of Sudbury. Collège Notre-Dame is known for its qualities emphasizing on theoretical academics, offering Enriched Mathematics and Integrated Sciences, as well as possessing a Gifted students program (Douance). The school also instills a great deal of discipline in its students, which explains why the school remains very popular among parents.

In the community

Collège Notre-Dame is currently headed by Mme Joanne Chrétien, and is known throughout the city for its work in fundraising for the Northern Cancer Research Foundation, headed in Sudbury. In the year 2005-06 the school raised over 40,000$ CDN for the foundation through such events as the blitz, where a large majority of the students went throughout the city, on assigned streets acquiring door-to-door donations. In 2014, the annual Blitz took place on february 20th and raised 26,000$.^[3]

Sports

College Notre Dame boys hockey team captured their school's first-ever title at the Franco-Ontarien tournament, held on April 2013 in Hamilton. The Alouettes also became the first team from Sudbury to capture the gold medal since the 1985 team from MacDonald Cartier in the large schools AA division. There were 50 teams from across Ontario participating in five divisions. Many schools showcased OHL players. In their first match, the Alouettes jumped out to a 3-0 lead on L'Escale Cougars with great goaltending by Barrie Colts daft pick Kevin Labelle. A couple of defensive miscues led to two quick goals in the third by the Cougars, but that would be close as they could get. Notre Dame got goals from Pat Labelle, Cedric Primeau and Ryan Fraser, with John Mark picking up a couple of assists. In the second round-robin game, the Alouettes came out flying against the Franco Cite Aigles and peppered their goaltender time and time again but could not find the back of the net in the first period. Sheldon Lalonde finally buried one early in the second period for the Als, but a late goal by Franco Cite tied the game. Brayden Lachance had to come up with some big saves in the third as the Aigles put the pressure on. Penalties hurt Notre Dame as they surrendered a power-play goal on a rebound in front of Lachance. The Alouettes pulled their goalie and hit the post in the dying seconds and went on to lose 2-1. In their final round-robin game, the Alouettes defeated Beatrice Desloges 6-1 and got goals from Lalonde, with two, John Mark, Eric Paquette, Jesse Henry and Luc Seguin. Labelle got the victory in goal. Notre Dame finished first in its pool and moved onto the quarterfinals against the Casselman Dynamos. The Alouettes played a sound defensive game and got great goaltending by Lachance to earn a 3-0 shutout win with goals by Pat Labelle, Joel Grandbois and North Bay Battalion draft pick Brody Brunet. The semifinal featured a goaltending duel between Labelle and the OHL's Niagara Ice Dogs' Brent Moran of the Garneau Gaulois. Both made highlight reel saves, with Moran keeping his team in the game when the Alouettes went on a power play and held the puck in the Gaulois zone the entire two minutes. The first period finished without a goal by either team. Labelle made a key save early in the second off a breakaway. Moran received a delay of game penalty trying to clear the puck that went over the glass and Joel Grandbois scored on the power play on a great pass from Pat Labelle. From then on, the goalies shone. When Garneau pulled Moran for an extra attacker, the Alouettes' Brunet scored an empty netter for a 2-0 final score. Louis Riel Rebelles of Ottawa were back-to-back champions of the Franco tournament and possessed size and speed. They also had OHLer Alexandre Renaud of the Sarnia Sting and they used that size early in the game as they pinned the Notre Dame Alouettes in their zone. Throwing their size around and causing problems, the Rebelles took out forward Brody Brunet and defenceman Alain Trottier of the Alouettes, who left the game with injuries. Brayden Lachance stood tall in goal again, making 15 saves in the first period of the gold-medal game and keeping it scoreless. Notre Dame slowly started taking the play to Louis Riel, but a screen shot midway through the second period gave the Rebelles a 1-0 lead. In the third period, the Alouettes had tilted the ice in their favour and got more great goaltending from Lachance. A few big hits from the Alouettes' Brett MacDonald, Sam Bonin and Kyle Hartman minimized the Rebelles' speed and lifted the play of Notre Dame. That led to the tying goal by Eric Paquette on a scramble play in front of the net with 7:13 left in the period. The game went into overtime, with a five minute three-on-three format. Louis Riel picked up a bad cross checking penalty in the offensive zone. The power play had been successful all tournament and didn't let Notre Dame down as Luc Seguin fired a blast past the Louis Riel net-minder with 2:32 remaining in OT for the 2-1 victory.[3]

Uniforms

The students are required to wear classic uniforms, such as a navy blue blazer, a red tie and grey pants for boys, and a navy blue vest and skirt for girls along with navy blue pants and cardigan, complete with a white shirt for both sexes. The uniforms add to the distinct elitist character of the school.

Notable students

• Bobby Chaumont, hockey player

See also

• List of high schools in Ontario

References

External links

• Official website (French)