Coach Cachey likes to refer to the hockey season as “the mountain” that the team climbs together. On September 16, the 16Us headed north to Stevens Point, Wisconsin to kick off the 2005/06 season and begin their ascent. Coaches Tony Cachey and Margaret Hug forewarned the girls that they had planned a schedule that would be extremely challenging and the Stevens Point field, which consisted primarily of 19U teams, really lived up to that billing. The tournament format, with games being comprised of two periods of twenty-five minutes each, proved to be a good test of both physical and mental stamina throughout the weekend.
The action started Friday evening against a very talented and deep Wisconsin Wild 19U team. The Wild came out fast and jumped out to a 3-0 lead. TI continued to battle hard and got on the board in the opening seconds of the second half. By the midway point of the period, TI had taken advantage of three power play goals to narrow the margin to 4-3. However, with 11 minutes left in the contest, the Wild got the goal which proved to be the pivotal score in the game. Momentum shifted in the Wild’s direction and before it was over, they had tallied 4 more times to make the final 9-3.
If the girls from Illinois thought Saturday morning was going to be easier…..they were in for a real surprise. The opponent was Walser Blue, a long established and highly successful club from Minnesota, renowned for producing Division 1 college talent. Walser moved the puck extremely well and kept TI bottled up in their end from the outset. TI kept them at bay for the opening 3 minutes but once Walser dented the net they found it four straight times before TI answered with a shorty at seventeen minutes of the opening half. Twice the girls of Illinois would close the gap to three goals but that is as close as they could get as the speed, skill and puck movement displayed by the Minnesotans was difficult to overcome. The game was both fast and physical with fourteen penalties assessed between the two teams. The final was 8-3, and TI left the ice knowing they had just faced off against one of the best girls 19U teams in the country.
The Saturday evening match-up against Team Wisconsin was a back and forth battle that saw only one score by Wisconsin in the opening twenty-five minutes. TI answered three minutes into the second frame and the score remained tied until Wisconsin converted with about eight minutes left. They finished the scoring with a power play goal late in the period and a tired TI squad retired to the hotel to regroup for Sunday.
The blue and white decided that they could not afford to get off to slow start and they came out flying in the Sunday morning showdown with the Capital Center Pride 19U team from Lansing, Michigan. They scored twice in the first minute and a half and held on to a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period. They continued the offensive into the second half and opened up a 4-1 lead before Washington closed out the scoring with a power play goal to make the final 4-2. The win did wonders for the girls’ confidence and earned them an opportunity to play the 16U team from Walser in the finale of their weekend.
They picked up right where they left off in the morning game, coming out with a high energy level and scoring again in the opening minute. They opened up a 4-0 lead before Walser closed out the first half scoring with ten minutes remaining. The second half belonged to Walser as they scored three goals in a seven minute span to knot the game at four. TI had some chances down the stretch and ended up out shooting Walser 23-15 but the game ended in a draw at four all.
All in all, the weekend was a great success. The defensive corps of Megan Bozek, Katie Daniels, Randi Jensen, Diana Karouzos, Ashley Mileykovsky, and Jackie Otto was put to the test with heavy pressure and little time to make decisions. Beth Hitchcock and Brittany Lemke in goal faced some of the best shooters they will see all year. In the offensive zone, forwards Katie Cachey, Jenna Dancewicz, Erika Greenen, Katie Iraci, Kim Kowalczyk, Melissa Kravich, Moira O’Connor, Haley Williams, and Brianna Wolf were forced to skate both ends of the ice and repeatedly reminded of what it means to “pay the price” in front of the net or in the corners.
In the win/loss column, it was not a tourney they will remember. However, they played exactly the kind of teams they need to face to get better and this competition prepared them well to embark on a successful Midwest Elite League season.
