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As time wound down in the women's hockey final Thursday night, defenceman Amy鈥圴ermeulen took the game into her own hands.

With the score tied 1-1 and less than 30 seconds left on the clock, Vermeulen collected the puck in her own zone and rushed end-to-end, scoring a goal that would give North Star Mini Storage Grey Matter the 2014 women's hockey league title.

The league's top team in the regular season prevailed 2-1 over runner-up White Storm at the Canada Games Centre.

"The game was pretty tiring,鈥� said Vermeulen, her club's top scorer in the regular season.

"I just tried to rush it in. I tried to deke and I think I鈥坢ight have even lost it ... and then it trickled in.鈥�

Vermeulen's goal with 16 seconds left in the game proved to be the difference in a tightly-played championship final.

Prior to that, the game was a goaltending duel between White鈥圫torm's Veronique Lafond and Grey Matter rookie netminder Christine Blodgett.

Blodgett was an emergency fill-in for regular goalie Jennifer Tyldesley, and she stopped everything but a second-period breakaway from White Storm captain Danielle Hodgson.

Blodgett served in capably, and was given the honour of being the first to drink out of the cup post-game.

"I was a little bit nervous, but then I was like 鈥榃hatever man. How mad can they get?'鈥濃�圔lodgett admitted. "I've never played net before. They know what they signed up for.

"Getting back up is the hard part,鈥� she chuckled about her netminding experience.

"Once you go down, it was like 鈥業 can't stand back up.' I'm going to be sore tomorrow for sure.鈥�

Grey Matter forward Kathleen Jarvis opened the scoring in the first period, burying a rebound behind Lafond during a goalmouth scramble.

"I just looked at the net and shot as hard as I could,鈥� said Jarvis, a second-year player.

"It was an awesome year. We played well together and it was always a hoot in the changeroom. We meshed well from the beginning and just had fun together.鈥�

Hodgson told the Star that short benches made for a difficult game.

Grey Matter played with four subs, while White Storm had just three.

"Eight players playing a game like this is pretty exhausting,鈥濃�圚odgson said.

"It's still fun, but you get to that point where you're too exhausted, and you wish you had an extra player or two to be able to play more together as a team.鈥�

She said league rules prevented teams from adding substitute players for the playoffs, unless the roster was smaller than eight players.

Regardless of the circumstances, the game remained close with both teams trading chances and both goalies making some quality stops.

"I'm super proud of everyone that played,鈥� Hodgson said. "Everyone improved immensely.鈥�

North Star Mini Storage Grey Matter was one of two teams to earn a team sponsor this season.

They finished the regular season with a league-best record of 21-9-6.

White鈥圫torm (17-13-6) finished tied with the Grizzly Beers in points in the regular season, but an extra win earned them second place through tiebreaking rules.

White Storm beat the Grizzly Beers 2-1 in a shootout last Tuesday to advance to the championship final.