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Wrap-Up: Wild 19U Rep Team at Nationals

By Zoe M. Harris , 04/09/13, 10:45AM PDT

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The Washington Wild 19U Rep team’s first game at the 2013 USA Hockey Tier II Girls’ Nationals in San Jose, CA pitted them against last year’s 19U AA runner up, the Colorado Tigers, Rocky Mountain district winners.  Although not the easiest way to open the tournament, it gave the Wild a good idea of what they were up against in the three-game preliminary round.   The game started early Wednesday evening, and while most of the first period was scoreless, the pace of the game made it clear that both teams were excited to be at Nationals.  While the Tigers held a slight advantage with previous experience at this level, it wasn’t until the end of first period that they capitalized and took a 1 – 0 lead.  An insurance goal late in the second period eventually meant a 2 – 0 loss for the Wild.The Wild spent little time dwelling on the defeat, as they met the New England champs, Portland Jr. Pirates, Thursday morning.  Portland presented a bit of an unknown as usually Connecticut teams represent New England. However, Portland had knocked off Connecticut in the district semifinals and New Hampshire in the finals to advance to Nationals.  It was immediately apparent that the Wild controlled the action from the opening face off.  The Wild initiated the scoring at 6:18 in the first and then scored again late in the period to take a commanding 2 – 0 lead.  Two more goals in the second, at 3:07 and 5:19 cemented the Wild’s lead. They retained their 4-0 lead, balancing their National record at one win and one loss.

Friday’s contest against the Frederick Fury had the makings of a trap game.  The Fury had lost both their previous events by a large margin leaving the Wild unsure what to expect.  However, the Wild leapt out to an early lead and never looked back, tallying 6 goals in the first period, 4 goals in the second, and 6 more in the third to cruise to a win.The quarterfinal games quickly followed. Because the East Coast Wizards knocked off the Colorado Tigers Friday, the Wild held the 3rd seed in the ‘National’ bracket. Thus, Saturday found them pitted against the Chazy Lady Flyers from upstate New York–the 2nd seed in the ‘American’ bracket.  While the Wild entered the quarterfinals on a lopsided win, the Chazy Lady Flyers were smarting from their only loss in the prelims to the Keweenaw Storm (MI), 6 – 2.

Chazy Lady Flyers scored first, but the Wild quickly answered.  The Lady Flyers scored again almost immediately to take a 2 – 1 lead.  The second period was a tough one for the Wild as Chazy racked up three in a row to take a 5 – 1 advantage.  After the Lady Flyers’ third goal, the Wild switched goalies.  Shortly afterwards, the Wild narrowed the gap to 5 – 2 by the end of the second period. Facing a tough climb to get back into the game, the Wild rushed the puck up ice and put another point on the board to further tighten the gap to 5 – 3 within the first minute of the third period.  Gaining momentum, the Wild scored again mid-way through the third to bring them within one. Alas, the Wild could not find the back of the net again, and the Chazy Lady Flyers advanced to the semifinals to face the East Coast Wizards.  Chazy took care of the Wizards 4 – 0 as the Wizards only had 7 skaters.  Chazy Lady Flyers then bested the Keweenaw Storm in overtime, 3 – 2, to take the 19U AA USA Hockey National title.The 2012-2013 Washington Wild 19U Rep team wraps up the best season ever registered by a girls’ hockey team in the Pacific Northwest with a spectacular resume: four of seven tournament wins, the PNAHA Flight 1 league championship, the Pacific District title, and a quarterfinal showing at USA Hockey Nationals. The girls gave their all and have much to be proud of this season.

Best wishes to the graduating seniors from the 19U Rep team (photos below):

#7 – Julie Brubacher (A)
#21 – Bailey Ingalls
#15 – Vicki Lindsay
#16 – Kim Pearcy
#10 – Roslyn Rostomily
#19 – Katie Scherer (C)
#9 – Mina Tari

We wish them well in the next stages of their academic and hockey careers!

– Bill Davis