Northwood goalies Tony '12 and Alex '13 along with the women's national team that includes alums Kelley '08 and Blake '09.
The US Women’s National Team is in town this week training for the upcoming World Championships that begin next week in Burlington, VT. Two Northwood alums, Blake Bolden and Kelley Steadman, have been named to the preliminary roster and have returned to their former home rink to compete for a spot on the final roster.
Current Northwood students are also helping with the women’s team preparation for World Championships. Many of the Northwood goalies have or will attend a skill session for the Women’s team shooters. On Thursday, the entire National team will play a controlled scrimmage against a mix of high school, midget, and junior boys.
Over the weekend seven Northwood Huskies attended the annual district try-out in Cicero,
New York. The try-out consists of girls from all over New York state vying for a chance to be selected for USA Hockey summer National camps. Pictured are Cailey H, Erin B, Nicole G, Gaby P, Serena M, and Cassie K. Not pictured: Julie D also attended. Great job girls!
An annual tradition at Northwood School to end the winter sports season is the Winter Carnival. Four teams battle in events that vary from Broomball to Knitting to Poetry Reading. This year’s tshirt (above) was designed by Olga R.
The girls’ hockey team was well represented on Team Black – the overall winners. Team Black was led by Captain Halle K. along with Brennan B., Franny P., Nicole G., Serena M., and Cassie K.
Below is the Green Team’s talent show entry: Hailey S., Cailey H., and Monica M.
Kayley, Jess, Franny, Alexa, Halle, and Casey (missing from the picture is Rachael)
In the last two games of the 2011-2012 season, Northwood took on Troy/Albany Icecats with a home and home series. On Saturday, the Huskies traveled to Troy. After a brief presentation to honor the Troy seniors, the game began at a pretty slow pace. A quick regroup of the team at the end of the first period lit the fire, and Alexa C. took the puck end to end and beat the Troy goalie to break the deadlock. Halle K. answered the call a few minutes later when she took a hard wrister blocker side. Gaby P. played the first half of the game and was solid. The Icecats popped one in late in the second period to close the gap, but the Huskies continued to dominate play. With five minutes to go in the third, Northwood found themselves in penalty trouble – receiving a 5 minute major. They managed to kill two minutes of the penalty, but the Icecats scored to tie it up and Northwood still had to keep 4 players on the ice due to the major penalty. A close offensive zone faceoff just missed for the Huskies, who left Troy with the tie.
On Sunday, Troy visited Lake Placid for Northwood’s senior game. The brief ceremony honoring the seniors proved emotional for players and parents. The emotion carried the Huskies through the first period, where they had a much better start than they had had in Troy. However, they still had a hard time beating the Troy goalie. Cassie K. finally got Northwood on the board with a short-handed goal, and Brennan B. chipped one in even strength. Nicole G. played the first half and recorded the first-half shut-out, but a late Troy goal that beat Gaby P. five-hole put Northwood down 3-2, and they were unable to even it up.
Upset about the loss, the Huskies still managed to see the forest through the trees and recognize it was a successful and positive season. A reception in the locker room allowed players and parents to soak in the experience of being part of the Northwood Huskies.
Although the season on the ice is over, the blogging is not! Stay tuned for updates…including more hidden talents, college commitments, and more!
The huskies’ second game of the tournament was against the Ottawa Senators AA Bantam team. Even though this team was a little younger than the teams we previously had been playing, the game proved to be no easy task. The young Ottawa Sens came out fired up setting the up-tempo pace. The momentum of the game was back and forth. In the last minute of the game, the score was tied at 1-1. A Northwood face-off miscommunication in the offensive zone lead to the Sens picking off the puck and heading down ice on a breakaway to score with 22 seconds left. The final score was 2-1.
Next, the huskies played OHA Maroon. Tournaments can take a toll on your lungs and legs and this showed in this third match-up of the tournament. Northwood was beginning to feel the effects of fatigue and went down early against a team they previously have beat. The final score of the game was 4-0 OHA.
The final match-up of the Tournament on Sunday was against Ottawa Senators AA Midget Team. After a good night’s sleep the huskies were on a mission to win. They came out hard and setting the tone. Again, it was a back and forth game riddled with penalties on both sides. Five on five play was few and far between as the special teams saw a lot of ice. The Northwood penalty killers did a great job as did both power plays. A quick change in direction of the play in the neutral zone while the Northwood defense were trying to get a change caused a break away on Nicole G. to make the final score 3-2 Ottawa.
All of the girls played hard and had a great tournament. The last weekend of the season will be against the Troy/Albany Ice Cats. Northwood will be honoring the seniors with a Senior Night on Sunday, March 12th at the Olympic Center.
Northwood travelled to Jay Peak for their last overnight of the year to play in the NAHA spring tournament. The opening game was against the host team, NAHA Red, which gave the Huskies a chance at a rematch. Back in January, NAHA beat Northwood in the semifinals of the Northwood Invitational so the Huskies wanted revenge on NAHA’s home ice.
The two teams came out flying with up and down action. NAHA got on the board first on a power play goal, but Northwood answered back less than a minute later on a beautiful, top shelf rebound goal from Serena M. In the second Northwood took the lead briefly when Jess G. scored on a slap shot from the blue line. But NAHA didn’t let them hold the lead long; they scored again on the power play to tie it up.
With a plethora of penalties to start the third period, Northwood found themselves on a 5 on 3 for almost two full minutes. But neither power play unit could convert, so the score remained tied. When time expired, the huskies readied themselves for a shoot-out – one of the most dreaded (or welcomed) events in hockey.
Gaby P. had played a strong game throughout so the Huskies weren’t concerned when the first NAHA shooter scored five hole on her. Jess G hit the post on her shot to give NAHA the lead. Gaby made the second save and Casey K buried her shot to tie it up. When Gaby made the third save, the pressure was off Erin B and she calmly skated in with the puck and beat the NAHA goalie over her blocker.
The girls celebrated their win on the ice and then afterwards cooked up a storm in the condo.
On Wednesday night 2/29, Northwood played their cross town rival NSA for the second time this year. The girls made it a goal back in October to play with and beat NSA. Although we did not win on the score board (the final score being 4-0), the huskies dominated play for most of the game and wowed the crowed; it was a successful night so we count it as a win in our book. The following account of the game is written by Senior Captain Casey Kilduff:
The atmosphere surrounding the huskies locker room was that of focus and confidence this time around. The girls knew this would be an important game, and they had the whole school behind them. As soon as they stepped on the ice, the fans exploded with cheers, giving the huskies the confidence they needed to start the game off right. The first shift we went down 1-0, but that didn’t phase the girls. The next shift seemed as if it was still a tie game; with the crowd cheering the huskies did not get down on themselves. They battled hard throughout the first period despite being down 2-0. In the locker room, the girls where talking each other up, while still giving constructive advice. The team was confident they could out play NSA in the 2nd period. That is exactly what the huskies did. Northwood came out hard and confident, being strong on the puck and making smart passes. NSA began getting frustrated and took penalties, giving the huskies the advantage. With the crowd roaring, the huskies confidence continued to rise and they played their hardest. They came out of the third period down 3-0. The locker room atmosphere had a “now or never” attitude, Northwood knew that the next 18 minutes would be the most exciting and intense period of hockey they would play. Walking onto the ice, the crowd erupted, they wanted the win just as badly. The huskies played their hearts out and no one took a shift off. As the minutes began ticking down, Northwood played harder, pushing for the net. The girls left everything on the ice, and despite the 4-0 loss, we were proud of the effort, heart, pride, and school spirit the team and the fans showed.
Northwood School Girls Hockey 