TI 19U saw significant action against top flight opponents all throughout the month of December. The month began with a league game at the Ponds against the Wisconsin Wild. These two teams have played close all season long, most recently in a 1-1 tie in November. On this day, however, the Wild was able to capitalize on two power plays to take the game 2-0. Courtney Bean and Jillian Korbas led the defense, and Alexi Bloom stopped 22 of 24 shots.
The weekend of December 16-18 brought another MWEHL showcase. On Friday, the girls squared off against the defending national champions from Shattuck St. Mary’s. SSM out shot TI 52-13 en route to a 6-1 win. Jillian Kirchner scored the lone TI goal on assists from Amy Snickenberger and Bean.
Saturday morning TI settled down and took care of business by downing Little Caesars 3-1. Kirchner netted a hat-trick with assists from Katie Osikowicz. Ilyse Zack and Cassie Stoner provided strong defense and Bloom stopped 22 of 23 shots.
Saturday evening’s opponent was Colorado Select. The girls lost 2-0, but Ryann McCarthy made a strong comeback by stopping 45 of 47 shots to keep the game close.
On Sunday morning, TI faced Shattuck once again. A better all around effort reduced Shattuck’s shot attempts from 52 on Friday to 39, however the final score of 4-1 did not do justice to how well the girls played.
Shortly after the Christmas holiday the girls headed east for the Polar Bear Tournament. After a tune-up game with the Connecticut Stars, TI began tournament play with a 3-1 victory over the Lady Flames from Massachusetts. Snickenberger had a pair of goals, and Kirchner added the third. Emily Sherman notched two assists. McCarthy stopped 12 of 13 shots.
TI continued their strong play with a 7-0 whitewash of the Penn Quakers. At the risk of sounding redundant, Kirchner had another hat trick. Kerry Mullins, Francie Steger, Osikowicz and Sherman rounded out the goal scoring.
The third game brought a showdown with the New Jersey Rockets. The girls worked hard, as evidenced by a favorable shot differential of 32-11, yet the final score was 0-0. TI had several near misses, and as it turned out, any one of those would have guaranteed the girls a wild card into the quarterfinals. As it happened, this was not to be, and a tie or victory against the host Polar Bears would be required to advance.
The game started fast and the pace continued to mount. Phoebe Amberg and Andrea Fuwa led a strong defense, and all three forward lines held their own against the all-star Polar Bears. Misty Pirus, Nicole Sassorossi and Tori Wiedmeier generated consistent pressure, and Emily Sherman did a stellar job of shadowing leading scorer Hilary Knight. The Polar Bears converted a rebound late in the first, and capitalized on a late line change near the end of the second to notch the deciding goals in a 2-0 game. As the third period wound down, the Polar Bears closed in for the kill, keeping the action in TI’s zone for over four minutes. However, Bloom, who stopped 32 of 34 shots on the day, kept them off the board.
