It wasn’t just on the basketball court that locally based teams were in pursuit of national championships.
Up in Burlington, Vermont, the Skaneateles Girls Under-19 hockey Lakers found themselves part of a 12-team field competing in the USA Hockey Tier II Under-19 Tournament, making it all the way to the semifinals before getting stopped.
In last Thursday’s tournament opener, the Lakers faced Connecticut Northern Lights, and was unable to get on the board in a 4-0 defeat even though it took more shots, seeing all 37 of them stopped by Northern Lights goaltender Hannah Stone.
They were 0-0 when Northern Lights’ Madeline Giordano scored late in the first period. Then the Lakers saw the deficit grow to 2-0 on Gabrielle Roy’s goal less than a minute into the second period.
Rachel Maselli and Savannah Herbek would tack on goals as Skaneateles got hurt by committing four penalties to Northern Lights’ two. Lakers goalie Devin Baylor finished with 26 saves.
On Friday afternoon, Skaneateles faced the Alaska All-Stars, and playing with some urgency, the Lakers pulled out a tense 1-0 decision.
Following a scoreless first period, Skaneateles got on the board late in the second period when Hannah Croteau converted an unassisted goal on a Lakers power play. From then on, nothing else got past Alaska goalie Aubrielle Champagne, who finished with 26 saves.
Meanwhile, the Lakers’ defense had to endure all kinds of Alaska opportunities, but it also manage to avoid the penalty box, committing just one minor violation, from Grace Schnorr in the second period. It proved a showcase for Tara Riley, who took her turn between the pipes for Skaneateles and earned a shutout by stopping all 28 Alaska shots she faced.
Early on Saturday morning, group play ended with the Lakers facing the Vermont Shamrocks. A win would guarantee a spot in the quarterfinals – and Skaneateles got it, skating past the Shamrocks 4-3 in a tense game decided by a shootout.
Croteau’s first-period goal and Schnorr’s second-period power-play tally had the Lakers up 2-1 going to the third period. But then Dakota Bilodeau scored and, when Riley Yandow found the net 5:31 into the frame, Vermont went in front 3-2.
With its tournament life on the line, the Lakers regrouped and, less than seven minutes after falling behind, got back even, 3-3, when Abby Kuhns netted an unassisted, even-strength goal. And that was the last either team would get in regulation.
During the first OT, the Shamrocks got a power play when Schnorr was penalized for high sticking. But Skaneateles killed off that penalty and kept it 3-3 through the rest of the OT sessions.
Thus, a shoot-out was required, each side taking five attempts at the net. Kuhns converted, and though it didn’t get anything else, that was all the Lakers needed because Baylor, who finished again with 26 saves, stopped all five of Vermont’s attempts to send her team into the elimination round.
More excitement awaited in the quarterfinals against the Lady Vipers, a game that also went to overtime – and one where, again, Skaneateles came out on top, this time rallying from a two-goal deficit late in regulation and previaling by a 6-5 margin.
The Lakers roared to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Whitney Daino and Melinda Fisher. But after Schnorr made it 3-1 early in the second period, the Vipers put up four unanswered goals, two of them by Sierra Benjamin, to grab a 5-3 lead.
But in the third period, Skaneateles roared back, Schnorr scoring again 28 seconds into that frame before Croteau netted the tying goal seven minutes later. From there, it stayed 5-5 until overtime, when at the 10:22 mark Carley Mills, off a feed from Kuhns, beat Vipers goalie Megan McRae for the game-winner.
With almost no time to rest, the Lakers had to regroup that night for the semifinals – and a rematch with CT Northern Lights. Here, the Lakers’ championship run ended with a 5-1 defeat.
Again, a Northern Lights goalie made the difference as Hannah Stone’s teammate, Morgan Peters, stopped 35 of 36 Skaneateles shots, only surrendering a third-period goal to Kuhn, assisted by Schnorr.
By that point, Northern Lights already had a 3-0 lead, with two of the goals from Zoe Obourn. Maddison Bishop then put the Lakers away with two goals late in the third period 90 seconds apart. Combined, Baylor and Riley made 19 saves.