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02/27/2016 11:00 PMThree towns, one team, one mission: Ladies and gentleman, your SCC Division II champion Blades’ girls’ ice hockey squad.
The Amity-North Haven-Cheshire co-op team faced off against West Haven-Sacred Heart Academy (WH-SHA) in the championship game of the SCC DII Tournament on Feb. 26 and came away with a 2-1 victory that came down to the final minutes at Bennett Rink. The game was tied 1-1 when junior Bailey MacNamara scored from freshman Erin Owens on a 5-on-3 power play to put the Blades ahead for good with 4:57 remaining. The rest was left to the Blades’ defense and junior goalie Julianna Daddio, who clamped down to preserve the one-goal victory and solidify the first conference title in program history.
“Overjoyed, ecstatic,” said Head Coach Scott Whyte when asked to describe his emotions. “We’ve told the girls repeatedly how proud we are of them all year long and repeated that again last night. The team had never won a title and so they will go in the books as our first group of girls to walk away with a title.”
The Blades (16-5-1) went undefeated against SCC DII competition during the regular season and blew out most of those opponents, although their games against WH-SHA (10-10-2) were close with the Blades winning the first one 2-1 and the second 4-1. The teams’ matchup in the conference final was another nail-biter and WH-SHA got on the board first when Gabi Prisco scored 5:46 into the opening period for a 1-0 lead. However, the Blades didn’t wait long to respond as freshman Alaina Safian promptly scored off the ensuing face-off just 24 seconds later to knot the game at 1, which was how it stayed until the waning minutes of the third period.
Coach Whyte extended credit to WH-SHA for playing a solid game, while also dishing out plenty of praise to his athletes for the way they executed on the ice. Whyte was additionally pleased to see such a large throng of fans come out and support the Blades.
“We had most of the North Haven boys’ hockey team there, a good amount of the Amity boys’ team, and Cheshire was practicing, but I’d say two-thirds of the crowd was composed of Blades’ fans and they made a lot of noise for us and made the game exiting for us as coaches and exciting for the girls,” said Whyte. “As far as our play, the girls did everything we taught them and asked of them throughout the year with skills, systems, and working together. I just couldn’t ask for a better game and a better win.”
As the minutes ticked down in the third period, it looked like overtime might be required to decide the champion, yet the Blades had other ideas. Following a pair of WH-SHA penalties, the Blades had a two-man advantage and took advantage when McNamara took a pass from Owens in the neutral zone, carried it in, and ripped a shot into the upper corner for the difference maker in the 2-1 victory.
“It was a tremendous goal by Bailey McNamara, who has had a tremendous season this year and really come on strong on our final games with a lot of hustle from her forechecking, backchecking, and stealing the puck,” Coach Whyte said. “When Bailey scored, there was jubilation and a small party on the ice and on the bench with a lot of high-fives. You never want to say that you’re too confident that you’ll win, but that point, it sure looked like we would walk away with a win.”
WH-SHA pulled its goalie with just over a minute to play and had a few quick drives toward the net, but the Blades’ defense cleared those chances from harm’s way to hang on for the victory. Daddio had 29 saves in the win with Coach Whyte saying she was “like a brick wall for us” in helping his team claim the conference crown.
“From a coach’s perspective, I wanted this for a long time. There were high-five and hugs all the way around from the girls and coaches and my favorite part of any championship is when the team does the pileup in front of the net, which our girls did graciously,” said Coach Whyte. “It was just an overwhelming feeling of jubilation in the fact that we had won the SCC championship.”
The Blades had reached the title bout by posting a 6-2 semifinal triumph against Notre Dame-Fairfield/Foran at their home site of The Rinks at Shelton on Feb. 24. The Blades jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one period as Owens scored unassisted, Gina Driscoll scored from Kiley Degrand and Owens, and then Shannon Reilly netted a goal. Degrand scored from Driscoll and MacNamara later put one home unassisted for a 5-1 Blades’ advantage through two. In the third, MacNamara tallied the Blades’ sixth goal on a helper from Meghan Hogan. Daddio made 28 saves in net.
From the Sidelines
The Blades’ complete SCC Division II championship roster features senior captains Catherine Babbidge (from North Haven), Emily Gotowola (Cheshire), and Peri Sosensky (Amity); along with fellow seniors Stephanie Satonick (Amity) and Rachael Kozak (Cheshire); juniors Jena Casman (Amity) and junior Bailey MacNamara (Amity); sophomores Julianna Daddio (North Haven), Kiley Degrand (North Haven), Maryssa Racino (North Haven), Jamie Fredericks (North Haven), Kyla DelVecchio (North Haven), Grace Kosh (Amity), and Olivia Dittman (Amity); plus freshmen Alaina Safian (Amity), Andrea DelVecchio (Amity), Hannah Sosensky (Amity), Jackie Howlett (North Haven), Erin Owens (North Haven), Gina Driscoll (Amity), Meghan Hogan (Cheshire), Shannon Reilly (North Haven), and Katelyn St. Peter (North Haven). Head Coach Scott Whyte is assisted by Kate Mrowka, John Beschell, and Tom Earley.
The Blades now turn their attention to the State Tournament that combines teams from Division I and Division II. The Blades are the No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 East Catholic-Glastonbury-South Windsor in the quarterfinals Newington Arena at 3:50 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 29. With a victory, they’d play the winner of New Canaan and Hall-Conard in the semis in Shelton on Wednesday, March 2. The state final takes place at Bennett Rink at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 5.