19U Return from Connecticut With Winning Record

Playing in the Polar Bear Tournament Dec. 27-30 in the U19-AA Division along with 34 teams from across the United States and Canada, the girls came away with a 3-1-1 record. While it was not quite good enough to advance to the Quarter Finals the girls made a good showing. 

Arriving Friday night the girls got in a quick practice at the Cromwell rink ahead of their Saturday morning game against the Rhode Island Selects. Unfortunately, the Rhode Island  Selects were unable to compete because a number of the girls had the flu and TI had to settle for a forfeit for this game. 

The rest of the day was free and many of the girls checked out colleges in the area, went sight seeing, caught up with girls they knew on some of the other teams or just played cards. 

In their 2nd game, TI played Durham West from Ontario. In a hard fought game the TI U19s lost to Durham West 3-1. Durham would eventually beat out TI by 1.5 pts and advance to the Qtr Final. The lone goal for TI came in the 2nd period on a unassisted goal from Sonja Novak. 

Later that day TI faced Chelmsford out of Massachusetts. TI opened the scoring in the 1st period with a goal from Karen Levin assisted by Courtney Stefanski. In the 2nd period Chelmsford jumped ahead with two goals. In the 3rd period Chelmsford scored two more goals before TI fought back with three goals in the 3rd period. Goals came from Allie Morrow, Courtney Stefanski, and Levin, with assists from Rachel Crissy, Lexie Kaknes and Olivia Antognoli. While TI and Chelmsford split the game points (1-1), since TI out scored Chelmsford the 1st and 3rd periods, TI took 2 of 3 period points. 

In the 4th game, Monday morning, TI faced the New Hampshire Selects. The TI U19s took control of this game and never looked back. With a combined effort by Leigh Reisberg and Elaine McKenna in goal, TI notched a 4-0 shutout. Antognoli scored in the 1st. Kaknes and Jillian Kirchner scored in the 2nd with assists from Levin, Morrow, Antognoli, and Amanda Auger. In the 3rd, Novak scored on an assist from Crissy. 

TI played in the consolation round on Tuesday morning against Markham Stouffville from Ontario. Kellye Stefanski opened the TI scoring in the 1st period on an assist from Kaknes. In the 2nd Levin scored assisted by Kaknes and Tori Wiedmeier. In the 3rd Novak scored unassisted and Samantha Ullrich scored on an assist by K. Stefanski. TI won the game 4-2.