Eagles fall but play strong against Mustangs
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St. John’s College didn’t earn two points Monday in high school girls hockey but the Green Eagles gained some confidence.
Facing the defending Brant County champions from Brantford Collegiate Institute at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre, SJC fell 3-2 to the Mustangs.
Despite the loss, Green Eagles coach Derek Stockdale said he is confident his team will have a strong season.
“BCI is a good team, I don’t want to take that from them,” said Stockdale. “But if we come to play and play as a team, I don’t think there’s a team in Brant County that can beat us.
“I just feel with the group of girls that we have and their work ethic, I think we could (win) Brant County.”
St. John’s entered the season like most other teams, with a smattering of players in each grade. With that in mind, Stockdale said the goal is to bring the players together to work as a unit.
“A game like this shows we are coming together and starting to jell. They showed up and they played as a team, not as individuals.”
Stockdale said his players were nervous ahead of Monday’s game.
“We had a little pre-game talk . . . and explained to them they didn’t have to be nervous, that it was just another game. (BCI) had more to lose than we did. We were playing with zero risk. We laid it all on the table.”
The Green Eagles were missing four players, including Alissa General, one of their top stars.
“It played a factor,” Stockdale said. “You could see out there, if we had more players we could roll through the lines because the girls were tired.
“The ones that were there played strong and hard. They never gave up from start to finish.”
With just under five minutes played in the opening period, SJC got the game’s opening chance and converted.
Crossing the blue-line, Jessica Hogarth took a pass and, while entering the zone, she wristed a shot that BCI goalie Jenna Dekeukelaere got a piece of but couldn’t stop.
The Mustangs then had a nice bounce back shift, buzzing all around the Green Eagles net but all they got for their effort was a shot off the post by Erin Gee, which was followed a few minutes later by a shot off the crossbar by Grace Bellamy.
With time winding down in the first, SJC’s Stephanie Buckley got a chance that was followed by an opportunity for BCI’s Nicole Kelly but both were turned away. However, Kelly got a second chance a little later on and this time she made the most of it, beating SJC goalie Madeline Campbell to tie the game at 1-1.
The Green Eagles wasted little time getting that goal back in the second. After playing less than 30 seconds, St. John’s found itself back out front when Kyla Bol took a shot from a distance that made the score 2-1.
Despite mounting tremendous pressure, BCI couldn’t get a second goal with a large part of the reason being Campbell. Facing a barrage of shots, many of them being extremely challenging, Campbell was outstanding in turning everything she faced aside.
After killing one penalty near the end of the second, the Mustangs were short once again near the midway point of the third and that’s when the score changed again – in their favour.
Winding and weaving her way through the SJC offensive zone, Arielle MacDonald was able to get in on Campbell and she tied the game at 2-2 with a shot to the back of the net.
A couple of minutes later, BCI got a great chance to take the lead, however, Kelly, shooting from 12 feet away, hit the crossbar.
Finally, with 1:58 remaining in the third period, Kelly got through on a breakaway and made no mistake in scoring and securing the win for the Mustangs.
Olivia Shannon and Kelly got assists for BCI, while Cailtyn Osborne, Jasmine Klunder and Sarah Wilson drew assists for SJC.
BCI’s Kelly, arguably the best player in Brant County, said the Mustangs may have taken the Green Eagles too lightly.
i“We came out for the game and weren’t ready and then it became really stressful,” said Kelly, who praised the play of SJC goalie Campbell.
“It seemed every shot she found a way to save it.”
Kelly gave credit to her teammates for the victory.
“Everyone played good. We wanted it really bad and I think that’s why we pulled through at the end.”
Kelly said she expects the Mustangs and Eagles to be the mix for a Brant County championship this season.
“St. John’s was missing a few girls so it will definitely be a battle for the BCSSSA title,” she said.
“We’re up there. We have to defend our five-year title.”
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