Good December Showing for 19U

The 19U's opened December with an exhibition game against Team Glacier. Skating to a 3-3 tie, TI goals came from Ingrid Klockars assisted by Amanda Auger and Nicole Sassorossi. Down 3-1 going into the third period TI scored at the 14:40 mark on a goal from Anna Baumgarten assisted by Rachel Brobst. And in a heart stopping finish Kelsey Hopkins scored with 41 seconds left in the game on an assist from Anna to tie the game up. A rematch will be at Twin Rinks on Jan. 16th. 

The weekend of Dec 11th and 12th, TI hosted Culver Academy. In the first game on Dec 11th against the Culver Varity the 19U's lost 4-1. In the second game against the Culver JV, TI came out on top 3-0. 

The Chicago Showcase Weekend games were split between Kenosha and Seven Bridges. For a few of the girls up north, the games in Kenosha were probably a welcome break. While game wise the weekend did not live up to their expectations, the U19's gave the MWEHL league leading Shattuck U19's everything they could handle in a 4-0 loss to Shattuck. 

At the Polar Bear Tournament, the 19U girls did not play their first game until 7:20pm on December 27th. Some took advantage of the downtime to drive to Boston, and some took the train to New York. The game took place at the University of Connecticut arena so some of the players and parents took a student guided tour of the University campus before the game. 

Team Carolina was the first opponent and they proved a tough one. The Carolina goalie stopped everything the girls threw at her as Carolina notched a 2-0 victory. In the next game on the morning of December 28th, the opponent was the Northern Berkshire Black Bears. Again, TI ran into a buzz saw in the Bears goalie, but TI's Ryann McCarthy matched her save for save. The game remained scoreless into the third period. TI kept on the ressure and thanks to a great behind the back pass from Olivia Antognoli, Kelsey Hopkins fired the puck in the net with 7:00 minutes left to give TI the lead. Ryann made the lead hold up with help from her defense for the 1-0 TI win. 

The evening game against the Philadelphia Little Flyers proved costly in more ways than the 2-1 loss. Ingrid Klockars collided with a Flyer in the first period and left the game with a broken wrist. We all wish Ingrid a speedy recovery. As for the game, it was a great effort. In the first period, TI came out hungry. With less than four minutes gone, Rachel Brobst fired a pass from the corner to Tori Wiedmeier who one timed it past the Flyers goalie for a 1-0 lead. Lauren Wiedmeier also assisted on the goal. Defense prevailed well into the second period when with just over four minutes left the Little Flyers tied it at 1. The game was very even for most of the rest of the way but the Little Flyers managed to put one in late in the third period to give them the 2-1 victory. 

With the 1-2 record, TI could not make the playoffs, but still had a game to play. It was against the highly rated and tournament host Connecticut Polar Bears, last years National champs. With Ingrid Klockars hurt and Amanda Auger ill, TI had to face the vaunted Polar Bears with a short roster. Ryann McCarthy again was stellar in goal for TI. The game was scoreless well into the 2nd period when Connecticut scored the first goal. TI kept it 1-0 until later in the third period. Though it was a 2-0 loss, the TI girls earned the respect of their opponents and gained some confidence in themselves with a great effort against one of the best teams in the country.