Pawling icers freeze West Hartford 8-0
By John M. Benson
June 21, 2007
The Pawling girls’ spring ice hockey team cruised to 8-0 victory in the semifinal game last Sunday, setting up a match-up with ------- that will bring back to the ice a highly competitive rivalry. Pawling has a perfect undefeated record of 9-0 in this spring league this year.
“Our kids love this spring league,” said head coach Rich Reid. “These are the hard core kids, who will play hockey all year if they have the opportunity, and they all want to move on to play at the next level. And the rivalry with great teams like New Canaan are a terrific opportunity for our kids to really develop as ice hockey players.”
Against West Hartford, goalie Julie Bengis and defenders Rebecca Paugh, Sarah Schreiber, Emma Waldschmidt and Shannon Neligan pitched a shutout, while Sarah Apple, Melissa Evans, Lindsey Tobin, Samantha Baughman, Alyssa Lustenring kept up the offensive pressure. Dara Brown and Jen Morgan complete the roster for Pawling, and the coaches are looking forward to a full team on the ice against New Canaan.
Against West Hartford, Apple scored the first four goals, and Evans added a goal to make it 5-0 at the end of the first period. Pawling got goals from Neligan, Paugh and Buaghman to complete the 8-0 scoring.
Rich Reid is the head coach, assisted by Jim Brown and Bob Paugh. Reid has been the godfather of girls’ ice hockey in Pawling for years, and through the programs of Pawling Youth Hockey, and the leadership of Reid, Brown, Paugh, Jim Evans and other parents, the opportunities for girls to play ice hockey in Pawling has grown immensely. In addition to the 16U Pawling Youth Hockey team next winter, the Reid and the parents have combined with the Millbrook program to form the Mid-Hudson Lightning that will have its home at the McCann Ice Arena in Poughkeepsie.
Pawling Youth Hockey girls have already made their mark in college ice hockey, among them Paula Denema at Union College, Robin Rosselle at Rhode Island University, Samantha Turner at Plymouth State College, Kalee Stoever at SUNY Cortland, Brittany Rosselle at Sacred Heart University, and Jessica Zublin at Lake Forest College.
Reid said of the championship game next Sunday, “There is a rich history between Pawling and New Canaan. New Canaan is the best public high school team in the State of Connecticut. In Fairfield County, there are ten varsity girls’ team in the public schools, playing in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference. New Canaan wins that every year. We in Pawling used to play New Canaan during our regular season, before there were so many varsity teams in Fairfield County. Because there are so many teams there, and because they now have the interscholastic league, they can’t play us during the regular season any more. The only time we can play them is in the spring, so we joined this spring league to give our girls the opportunity to keep skating and constantly improving their skills, and to keep alive this rivalry that we enjoy so much with New Canaan. The history of our games with New Canaan, when we were playing in the regular season, was that New Canaan would always beat us, even when we had some outstanding teams with Meghan Nelson and all those kids.”
Sarah Apple has figured prominently in the rivalry since she was ten years old, and Reid enjoys telling the story of the rivalry.
“The only time we beat New Canann in the regular season was in my first year of coaching,” Reid said. “Our goalie couldn’t get to the game, so we called Sarah Apple, who was ten years old and in the fifth grade. She played goalie at that time, and we won the game 4-3. Then, even though we had great teams, we lost the next year twice by a goal. In 2003, Meghan Nelson and her class were all seniors, and our goalie once again couldn’t come to the championship game against New Canaan. We called Sarah Apple, who was by then twelve and in the seventh grade, and we won the game 2-1. It was just the second time we beat them in the regular season.
“We started up this spring team in 2006 and began to play New Canaan again. Sarah Apple had a hat trick in our first game with them, and we won the game 5-4. We finished the season undefeated last year, but we lost to them in the final 5-4, when Melissa Evans wasn’t able to play in the championship game. Sarah still had an assist and the hat trick.
“This spring, we have beaten them twice in the spring league. Once, they had no subs and we beat them 5-1 as Sarah once again had a hat trick. In our second game this spring, we had only three subs and two defenders, so I had to put Sarah on defense. It was 2-2 going into the third, so we put Sarah up on the first line for one shift, and she scored two goals, one after fifteen seconds, and one thirty seconds later. We won the game 6-4.
“It is a great rivalry, and we are really forward to a great game on Sunday. New Canaan is a great team. The last 41 games they have played in season, they are undefeated, and they were 24-0 for the 2006-2007 season in their interscholastic league. This is the kind of competition where our kids can really develop their games, get accustomed to a high level of hockey, really raise their game to a higher level precisely because of having the opportunity to play against outstanding teams like New Canaan.”
The championship game will be played on Sunday, June 24, at 4:30 p.m. on the ice at the “SportsCenter of Connecticut” at 784 River Road in Shelton, Connecticut.
For fans who would like to see excellent ice hockey in late June, the trip is just a little over an hour from Pawling, and the family can enjoy a round of miniature golf the game. For information and directions, call 203-929-6500, or visit the center’s website:
www.sportscenterct.org
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