Northwood Tournament GIrls Wrap up

Lake Placid, NY

This past weekend, in the Olympic heart of Lake Placid, the Mountaineers battled their way to the semifinal game of the Northwood tournament. 

“Were starting to play better,” said the head coach, Bill Ward. “But we’re inconsistent.”

Since after the winter break, the girl’s hockey team has struggled to put the puck in the net.  This weekend they turned the tides and began to hoist themselves out of their slump by scoring a total of 17 goals in four games.

They started there weekend on Friday playing OHA white, a team originating from Ontario.  The first half was tough; the team was sloppy and they could only lock in one goal, compared to OHA’s two.  Although they began with a struggle, they came out flying in their second half, scoring 3 goals to take a 4-2 lead.

"The team finally figured out how to put the puck in the net,,"
said NSA sophomore Megan Whiddon.

“We let OHA play with us too much,” said post grad student Gwen Schultz. “ We should have creamed them.”

            After winning their first game, the girls headed out to Saranac Lake arena to play an 8:00am game against Cornwall on Saturday.  Six goals were scored over the course of the game and hats flew to the ice when Senior Beth Hanrahan scored the fifth goal giving Hanrahan her second hat trick of the year.  Also the new sophomore goalie at NSA Lenka Craigova, received her first shutout of the year, which was celebrated with many high fives and cheering following the final buzzer of the game.

            Later in the day, the Mountaineer’s returned to their home rink to play a 4:25pm game against Rice.  The second the NSA girls team stepped on the ice they dominated the game.  Scoring a total of six goals in the two halfs they played, which advanced them to the semi finals with a number two seed.

            The last game on Sunday morning was a battle against NAHA (white), known to be the number one team in the nation.

“I’ve never seen our team want to win so bad,” said senior goalie Sarah Quigley. “I think were starting to really see what playing true hockey is all about.”

Game versus OHA (white)  Those present: Jaclyn Arbour (19),
Kaillie Goodnough(6), and Carmen Aguirre (1)

The team was mentally prepared for the game and it showed in the first half, when Junior Piper Moles snipped the first goal of the game giving us a 1-0 lead.  The pace continued strong and fast. Passes were tape to tape for both teams and the second we had a moment of weakness, they scored bringing the game to a 1-1 tie. 

The buzzer sounded and as the NSA team got off the ice and headed to their locker room, NAHA did not; they stayed in their bench and looked up at the score board until the second half started.   It reflected in how they played because within the first 10 minutes of the second half they scored two more goals pushing the NSA team to being down 1-3.  They scored a final goal with 2 minutes left and the game ended with a 1-4 loss for National Sports Academy.

Even though the Mountaineers did not advance to the Championship game they played a solid weekend.

“I think we played well,” said senior Brittany Moorehead. “We just need to play better.”

The 17 goals scored over the weekend span were scored by Beth Hanrahan (6), Brittany Moorehead (3), Emily Lawrenzi (2), Jackie Arbour (1), Alyssa Parke (1), Nicole Giannino (1), Kaillie Goodnough (1), Piper Moles (1) and Gwen Schultz (1).

Also Senior Beth Hanrahan was named All Tournament team by the NAHA, Vermont Team.  Next weekend the Girl’s hockey team is headed for Arlington, West Virginia to compete in the JWHL Challenge Cup.

 ~Carmen Aguirre