NSA Girls Season Recap

The girls after hiking up the tip of Whiteface

The 2011-2012 season for the NSA women's U19 AAA hockey team was full of exhilarating success but equalized by devastating failures ending with a nail biting loss in the quarterfinals at USA  Hockey National Championships. There were tournaments won, records set and jaw dropping moments but there was also surprising losses, long grueling slumps and times when the players and coaches alike felt as though nothing was going right. The year started in Lake Placid's own Olympic Center and ended in Marlbourgh Massachusetts for nationals, playing all over North America in between. Some of these places included; Boston, Colorado, Providence, Washington DC, Calgary and Minnesota among many others.

          The girls returned to the school on September first ready to hit the ice. Only there was one problem, there was no ice for the first two weeks, rather, the coaches used the couple weeks to whip the girls into shape. They completed an intense workout on sandhill and sprinted up the seemingly mile high stairs at the ski jumps. Throughout the entire pre season the team came together and bonded creating chemistry that would later help them on the ice. 

Workout

          This chemistry showed during the first few games of the season vs the New Jersey Rockets. NSA won and tied a game, outplaying their opponents from the starting whistle till the ending buzzer.  

          Then, first JWHL, Junior Women's Hockey League showcase rolled around. This was the first real test for the NSA team. Wether it was being over confident, being out of shape or simply being a team that has only been together for a few weeks, the weekend was a long one ending with a 2-3 record. 

          The Assabet Tournament was the first time the girls faced off against arch rival North American Hockey Academy(NAHA). One of the team's year long goals was to beat NAHA and this was the time. Unfortunately, NAHA was the team setting the pace this first game leaving NSA in the dust by a score of 6-1. 

T.t and Whiddon Celebrate after scoring against NAHA

          Now it was around this time that due to frustration and maybe just an overall lack of winning the number of penalties a game started to sky rocket. Coach Bill, always having had pride in his team for not being a chippy bunch decided this was not okay. He set in place a rule that for every minute over 6 the entire team would skate a herbie. Lets just say it was a long practice for the girls the next day, all of the water was gone, sweat was dripping off each one's chin and nose and some payers even went so far as to say that their legs felt more like jello then the solid muscle that they normally did. 

          Well as harsh as this skating sounds it brought the team closer together and the penalty minutes down. In fact, during another JWHL weekend, in Troy Albany, on December second 2011, the NSA girls skated up and down the ice playing two sided hockey for sixty minutes moving the puck and connecting with their passes arguably the best they had all year, resulting in the first NSA victory over NAHA in seven years. 

          The halfway point of the season, the Deerfield Tournament rolled around and the team knew pressure was on. Never have the NSA buses pulled away from the Deerfield Academy Rink without the Championship title. 

          Well the pressure must have been a good thing because it led the girls to yet another championship. 

The deerfield Tournament acting like a slingshot propelling NSA forward. The girls went 2-0 against New Jersey Rockets, went 4-1 at a JWHL weekend and then capped it all off by defeating Ontario Hockey Academy, the older NAHA(in triple overtime), and younger NAHA to win the title. 

The team posses for a Championship Photo

          Senior night against Northwood went off without a hitch as the girls stomped over Northwood 4-0 demonstrating that they are still the team to beat up in Lake Placid NY.

          As JWHL playoffs rolled around the team packed their smelly hockey bags and not quite as smelly clothing and boarded a plane for Colorado. 

          Because NSA ended in 7th place they were lined up to play the Washington Pride, a team they had not beaten all year. But the girls worked together, literally every girl had at least one shot on net, resulting in a final score of 7-3 in NSA's favor.  

          But the luck or chemistry or whatever you want to call it ran out when in the quarter finals NSA was beaten by the Edge School ending any playoff championship goals. One thing about this team though is they never quit, doesn't matter if they are down by five goals with a minute left or up by three goals with thirty seconds to go they always give everything they've got and just because they couldn't win it all they were still determined to finish as high as possible. 

          The girls won two consecutive games to land them in fifth place. While its far from first and left many disappointed there was now states and potentially nationals to look forward to. 

          Looking at the schedule for States one would guess that NSA would run show and head for nationals without a problem but that is far from the case. The first game wasn't even close it was noticeable from the way the girls played they had no intentions of having their season end early as last years team had, winning by a score of 8-1. 

          But just from warmups before the second game it was noticeable that something was off. The girls were not connecting with each other and everyone seemed half a second slow. This remained true throughout the game resulting in a nail biting last few minutes but NSA was able to hold on to the lead for a 3-2 win. 

After tubing in Colorado

          All year this is what the team had trained for. Things like the brutal sandhill work out that caused people to throw up or the never ending ski jump stairs both seem to have taken place years ago. Now the question is, can this team come together and play the best hockey they've played all year right when they need it the most? 

          The first two games the girls came out hot making an impression to the college scouts in the stands and the opposing coaches wining by scores of 9-1 and 7-2. Then came Shattuck St. Mary's, the number one in girls hockey, the one to beat. While Shattuck set the pace of the game the NSA girls hung with them playing what college scouts referred to as some of the fastest junior women's hockey they have ever seen. The end score was 4-1 but the score does not demonstrate the closeness of the game. 

          Heading into the quarterfinals, paired up against the Chicago Mission, the girls know this is due or die. The girls started slow allowing Mission to score the first goal but they bounced back almost immediately to answer with a tying goal. Going into the third period the score was all tied up at 1-1. The NSA team finally seemed awake and ready to play but it proved too late. Mission scored to go up 2-1 and NSA was unable to answer. 

          After the game in the locker room there was mixed emotions of anger, for not going harder sooner and sadness, realizing that this past game was the last one they would ever play again all together. 

The family

The 2011-2012 NSA team was a special one and I'm not just saying that. I was part of this team and through the ups and the downs we stuck together. I've never played on a team that loved each other the way this one did and could be as magical on the ice when everything came together as this one could. Obviously not all the memories are positive and there are things we would all change if given the choice. But one thing I don't think a single player would change is this year with this team doing what we did. We arrived at school eight months ago as individuals. After playing 74 games and living together for about 218 days and suffering through harsh practices meant to break us, sitting in that locker room after losing looking from face to face we all know that we're not just a team we're a family. 

NSA Men's Junior A Season Recap

NSA Men's Junior A Season Recap

by Wes Moon

The National Sports Academy Mountaineers men’s Junior A team finished off their season with great success, winning both the New England division and the league championship. The team finished with a 41-3-5 record with 248 goals for and only 94 goals against.

            The team leaders in points and goals were Devin Desnoyers and Kevin Valenti. Desnoyers finished of the season leading the team in points with 72 (29 goals and 43 assists). Valenti lead the team in goals with 30 and was runner up in the points race with 61. Jakob Rasmussen was the top goaltender with a record of 26-1-3, 1887.63 minutes played, 4 shutouts, a 1.91 goals against average, and 60 total goals against.

           

The Mountaineers competed in the New England Division where they dominated the competition all year, ending up with a full 17 more points than the second place team in the division.

            During the playoffs the Mountaineers started off the first round of the playoffs very strong defeating the Eastern Kodiaks in a 2 game sweep. The second round of the playoffs proposed a different challenge. The New England Stars, who were the second place team in the division, went up to a 1-0 series lead which forced the Mountaineers to have strong second and third games, which they did winning the next two games to go to the championship in Stoneham, Massachusetts to play the Syracuse Stampede. The Mountaineers won the first two games against the Stampede to finish off the series and send Syracuse home with a sweep and came back with three new trophies.

            

MY 2011-2012 Sliding Season

MY 2011-2012 Season

By Aidan Kelly

Flashbacks of iced walls, hospital beds and bloody helmets ran through my head. The season was starting and I questioned my readiness. We had three weeks in Lake Placid and then it was time to race. Not just any race, but a Junior World Cup; My FIRST Junior world cup race.

Last season was rattled with crashes broken bones and scars, but this season felt different. I was a different person from those experiences and I was more ready than ever to show my coaches (and the world) that I was not going down that easy. Park City, Utah was the setting. Technically my home track, though I had only been there once. Being one of the fastest tracks in the world it scared me. Not a bad scared, but a conscious scared. I knew what I had to do and how to do it. It was just a matter of timing. When race day #1 came I had never felt more nervousness and confidence at one time, I was 23^rd off the handles that day. I took my first run feeling prepared and it wasn’t perfect. That was alright though, I didn’t want or need perfect I just needed to race. My second run was better. I was happy with it and I finished 17^th. Obviously not a medal contender but just outside the top 15 was alright with me. Race day #2 came around and again I was ready. 17^th off the handles this day I was happy with my draw. Again my run wasn’t perfect but I was happy with it. I made it to the bottom and got to take another run. My second run was the best I’d ever had I was ecstatic, crossed the finish line in 13^th place and packed my stuff with a smile on my face.

Heading to Calgary the following day I hopped on a plane and was happy to see park city in the back window. 17^th and 13^th were better than I had ever expected and It was only going to get better, I could see. Training in Calgary was amazing and to this day it  remains my favorite track. High winds shook our race but accelerated me to the finish line in 8^th place. After this race several sliders headed to Igls Austria for more world cups but I jumped a plane back to Lake Placid for a few days at school and relaxed runs down the Lake Placid track.

After spending Christmas at home I was ready for more sliding. I left for Winterberg, Germany in late January with high hopes of more top ten finishes. The German sliders showed that home track advantage means more that we think as I finished 21^st. Discouraged I went to Oberhof, Germany. The next stop on our Junior World Cup Tour where, I again wanted that top ten spot but fell short. I finished 19^th despite my nest efforts and started mentally preparing myself for Junior Worlds.

With two weeks of training ahead of me I got my act together and cleaned up my mindset. I felt decently ready for this race, about as much as I was ready for the Park City race. But despite my consistently clean runs I fell short in the race finishing 16^th. Many would say that 16^th in the world is something to be proud of but I hadn’t reached my goal and I was not content with my finish. And so we headed back to Park City for Junior Nationals. Racing against just USA is much less stressful than the whole world.

Day 1 ended with Ty Andersen in first Tucker West in second and Myself taking third. Day 2 however, took a bit of a different turn with Tucker west in First, myself in second and Ty Andersen in third. Being my best results of the year I was stoked. Getting 3^rd overall along with my two other medals from the weekend was amazing, but I was just happy to almost be done racing.

Back in Placid again Senior Nationals was coming up, with fast training times on my home track I raced my way to 5^th place against the seniors. Just a thousandth ahead of 6^th and about a hundredth behind 4^th I was hoping to improve on that for day 2. I finished 4^th on day 2 and 4^th overall, just missing a podium spot my race season had ended. And it was about time!

Overall I was very happy with my season as it was tons better than my last season, having avoided broken bones and extreme crashes at all costs I had made It through with enough hardware to keep a smile on my face and new friendships to last a life time I wouldn’t change my season for anything.

JWHL Playoffs

Playoffs

By: Martha Smith

DENVER- On Wednesday, March 7, the NSA Girl’s hockey traveled to Denver, Colorado for the Junior Women’s Hockey League Playoffs.  Going in ranked seventh out of ten teams the Mountaineers hoped to show well and end their league play with better standings.

Cianfarano slides one past Pride's goaltender

The Mountaineers arrived a day early to become acclimated to the high elevation of Denver, the Mile High City.  Becoming acclimated paid off as the girl’s first game Friday ended in a commanding seven to three win over the Washington Pride.  Sophomore Taylar Cianfarano and Junior Megan Whiddon both notched two goals in the win while junior goaltender Sarah Foss played a great game with twenty saves.  Senior Kelsey Lynch says the teams “best game” was this game.  

NSA Coach Bill Ward went on to say, “We went out, and we were well prepared, more prepared than opponents.”

The next morning the team faced their first opponent, the Edge from Calgary, bright and early.  The Mountaineers suffered a devastating five to two loss against the Edge, taking them out of the running for the Championship game.  Ward explained that the “second game was just not the best, and became most important,” adding that,  “we didn’t show up and let an opportunity slip by in the quarter finals.”

At this point the team had problems with sickness that took some players out of competition for the remaining two games.

Denisa Křížová fires off a shot

With a chance to still increase their standings in the JWHL the Mountaineers came out strong, taking control of their second game versus the Minnesota Thoroughbreds that Saturday.  NSA came out on top with a snipe from Senior Kelsey Lynch and a hat trick from Cianfarano ending the game with a solid four to one win.  Goaltender Martha Smith came out of the game with thirty-one saves.

After pulling themselves together for the second game on Saturday the NSA Girl’s Team was able to place themselves into a situation that enabled the team to increase their standing.  As senior Kelsey Lynch put it “we came together as a team for certain games, played really well with not having the right numbers.”  NSA would be playing for fifth and sixth on Sunday morning.  The Mountaineers were again matched up with the Washington Pride for the final game of league competition. 

Sunday morning the team arrived at the Edge Arena ready to face off against the Pride.  The Washington Pride came out strong, scoring two goals against the NSA Mountaineers in the first period.  NSA battled back with a goal from Cianfarano ending the first period down by one.

Megan Whiddon sends her shot top shelf

With the drop of the puck in the second period the Mountaineers took off, with two unanswered goals from Cianfarano, and giving the star forward her second hat trick of the tournament.  At the end of the third NSA had a three to two lead. NSA goaltender Sarah Foss had a busy third period, with eighteen shots, but allowed no goals, bringing her game total to forty-five saves.  The NSA Mountaineers kept their three to two lead, and increased the JWHL standings to fifth place.

Coach Ward’s commented on the weekend saying NSA “had good goaltending all weekend, Foss especially in the second game verse Pride, and Smith especially verse Minnesota.”  Coming from behind in the second game against the Pride showed plenty of heart from the Mountaineers who were only playing with eleven skaters, two of which were not at full strength.  Ward put it well as a “pretty gutsy performance.”

Nationals Here We Come

Nationals Here We Come

By: Kelsey Lynch

NY STATE CHAMPS

LAKE PLACID, NY---Last weekend NSA's girl's hockey took the ice for the 70th time, knowing that it could potentially be their last game of the season. Although the Mountaineers were victorious against the Troy Albany Ice Cats and the Rochester Edge, NSA's lack of focus almost put their season to rest.

With a secured spot for Nationals, the Mountaineers are looking at a tough schedule and are using the next couple days to prepare for their last weekend.

As the team traveled back from Troy with a trophy and banner on board most players like Emily Laurenzi used their time to reflect on the previous game. " Our last game was close, too close, and as it came down to the last second it was anyone’s game."

Baye Flanagan added, " We didn't play our game and weren't playing as a team but we still managed to pull out a victory."

Although everyone wishes they could change one thing do something differently, it is important for the team to focus on what lies ahead, Nationals. With that in mind, the girls had only nine days to prepare themselves between the state tournament and the national finals.

Preparation started on Tuesday when the girls received a text message with a wake up call of 6 a.m. As they made their way out of bed and downstairs they soon found themselves climbing Cobble Hill for a little pre practice workout. Megan Whiddon described her experience: "It was fun and we were able to just enjoy hanging out as a team."

At this point in the season on ice practice is very crucial and acts as a prediction of how the team will play in future games. Head Coach Bill Ward used the ice time wisely and had the team doing specific drills in order to get the girls moving and prepared.

“We had a good week with some competitive game like situations including 1-1 battles. Leading in to nationals we need to refocus on playing the game with defense as the primary responsibility but still generating offense as well.”

Inspirational saying from the team.

One practice was specifically used to concentrate on the special teams. The team spent most of the hour and fifteen minute practice to perfect their power play and penalty kill. “I felt like it was a good practice because we spent a good amount of time practicing what is important and it was good conditioning as well”, Flanagan added.

As the team finishes up their five-day week of training and preparations, the coaches have planned an extra practice and off ice training before the team departure on Monday. Ward has also decided to leave two days before their first match up in order to settle in and hopefully have another practice.

With Nationals less than a week away, some girls feel as though, they have never felt stronger or more prepared for a weekend. 

Although the team is aware of their competition there is no way to tell what they are capable of, having never played them before.  The competition NSA will face is considered to be the best of the best.

NSA goalie, Martha Smith, comments on the unpredictable competition “We have to come out strong and we can’t give them any space to play their game, we have to force them to play our game.”

Ward commented, “We’re going up against the best of the best and this weekend is going allow us to see how we stack up”

The Mountaineers first match up is against the Anaheim Lady Ducks followed by the East Coast Wizards and Shattuck St. Mary. In order to advance to the quarterfinals, NSA has to compete well against these three teams.

Knowing that this weekend will be their last, the Mountaineers are determined to end their season with a bang. 

Mountaineer Men Come Out on Top

By: Samantha Puckhaber

 ------ After a well played season, the National Sports Academy boys are still on top and come home with a IJHL (International Junior Hockey League) Championship. The boys played two hard fought games, and came back after they were down two to zero in each game. The men's team for NSA this year has played the best season the school has seen.

Tyler Watts

National Sports Academy men's team member Tyler Watts had told me that the season had gone very well, and that winning the Championship was just the icing on the cake. The boys had two nail biting games against Syracuse. Watts had this to say “We played well, but it was hard to come back.” Syracuse was a solid team according to Watts, and it was a good win for the Mountaineers, but it was also a hard fought win.

In the first game face-off against Syracuse the boys started off rocky with 2 goals being scored on them. The team decided to kick it up a notch and ended up winning 3-2, Watts had this to say, “Even though it started off badly we came back,” continuing to say “We had character for both games, we were down by 2 and came back and won, it was awesome.” also saying that his team “had great chemistry through-out the season.”

During the first game Taylor Widenmaier stood out having two big goals to tie the game, while Wes Moon came up big scoring the winning goal in order to make the outcome 3-2.

The 2^nd game was it, the big game where they could either be Champions or have to battle one more time. This game started off just as the one before, the team had been lazying around until they finally kicked up. Down by 2 goals once again, they finally decided to move it up and came back to win the second game 5-3.

Fans Show Support.

Goals in the 2^nd game being scored by Taylor Widenmaier, Devin Desnoyers, and two goals by Zach White. According too Devin Desnoyers says “I think we had a slow start,” but continues to say “but with a few motivational words in between periods, we turned it around, and realized that this could be the last game together.”

Devin Desnoyers had this to say about the overall season “I felt that we had a great season,” like Watts he continues on in talking about the teams chemistry and says, “as the year went on we kept getting better as a team. And as the season progressed we became one.”

As his teams final moments together were counting down Devin had this to say, “Our team always showed a lot of heart,” also saying “We never gave up on ourselves, and were just awesome.” Desnoyers had said “We wanted this to be our last game together, knowing that we came out on a win and became champs together.”

Celebration

According to both Watts and Desnoyers, the Mountaineers showed heart, and character through-out the whole season and with that had one of the greatest seasons National Sports Academy (men's hockey) has seen in years. In the end of the season Coach Rod Simmons had this to say, “I was happy with our effort and I let our guys know how well they played.” In the end of the season the boys started out on top and end out on top as Champions.

Girls Hockey: State Champs

New York State Champions

By: Emily Laurenzi

This past weekend NSA’s girl’s hockey team traveled a short two hours to Albany, NY to compete in the New York State Championships.

In previous years there had been at least four other teams competing, but this year there were only two other teams.  NSA knew they were the top team, and they couldn’t play down.

The first game was against Troy Albany Ice Cats, the home team. It was the first time the two teams had played each other this season, and “we didn’t know what to expect,” said Carina Randazzo.

The game began at 8am on Saturday and NSA came out very slow. They finally found the back of the net about half way through the first period. “The team couldn’t skate with us,” said Bill Ward, NSA’s head coach. “We need to play our game.”

Not too long after NSA’s first goal Troy scored a power play goal tying the game 1-1 in the first period.  The game remained slow and scary until NSA finally picked it up, scoring seven consecutive goals, for a final score of 8-1.

With one game down, NSA knew they still had one game to put away before they became state champions. Earlier in the season, they faced Rochester Edge in a two game series at St. Lawrence University.  NSA pulled out two easy wins, scoring twelve goals to Rochester’s two goals in both games.

 The second and final game of the state championships started that same Saturday night at 8pm. NSA thought they were ready, however they did not show up to play.  The Edge managed to put one past star goalie Sarah Foss in the first shift of the game; however, it had been called off because their player had kicked it in.

The Edge had been fired up because of the call, and only had more determination to put in another one. “We were playing nervous,” said Kelsey Lynch. “It was scary.”

The players and the coaches knew it wasn’t meant to be a close game.  Megan Whiddon, a second year junior, scored the first goal for NSA halfway through the first period.  

The game was becoming sloppy and dirty when the referees decided to not call all the cheap penalties.  When T.T. Cianfarano had been knocked down for the fifth time with no call, she had had enough, she skated back towards the girl who had hit her, lined her up and dropped her. She received two minutes for body checking which gave the Edge a two-minute power play and their first goal. The first period ended with a score of 1-1.

The second period began, and the Edge continued to hit and trip our players behind the play. “It was frustrating,” said Carina Randazzo. “The refs were calling the game one way.”

NSA finally got a power play, and Jackie Arbour took a shot from the point, with a beautiful tip by Kelsey Lynch into the back of the net.  The second period ended with a score of 2-1 in NSA’s favor.

Both teams headed back to their locker rooms left for the ice to be cut.

In the locker room, Coach Ward urged the Mountaineers to focus on their own play.  “Stop worrying about the refs. let me handle them,” said Ward. “You need to start doing the little things right.” 

The teams left the locker room, some with grins other with frowns, fearing that it might be their last game to play with NSA. Five minutes into the third the Edge scored off an offensive face off, making the score 2-2 with ten minutes remaining in the game.

With about seven minutes left T.T. Cianfarano carried one down and stuffed it right past the goalies pad for the winning goal of the game.

NSA won the state championship for only the second time in NSA girl’s hockey history. They head to the National Championships in Marlborough, MA in two weeks to compete against the best teams in the country for the National Championship.