(Booth Dec 2020) Given the current pandemic restrictions it is hard to believe but our girls still managed to have a weekend full of exciting hockey.  Those in attendance at Ice Line Saturday night we able to see the matchup of two U16 AA MAWHA undefeated teams when the JR Flyers hosted our Little Flyers.  From the first drop of the puck to the final buzzer our girls were flying around the ice keeping the pressure on the JR flyers players.  Midway through the first period the Little Flyers were able to take advantage of a Power Play opportunity when Marina McCann got the puck to Victoria Hayes who put a seemingly impossible shot in the net.  Later, still in the first period, the JR Flyer’s had an opportunity to tie the game when they were on a 2-player advantage as a result of back to back tripping penalties called 45 seconds apart.  Our girls kept their composer and killed off both penalties.  The first period buzzer sounded with our girls leading 1-0.  The second period saw more constant pressure from our girls but neither team were able to get the puck into the net.  In the third period the score remained unchanged until Avari Hahn got the puck to Charlotte Labre for an insurance goal with 2:40 left in the game.  Sensing a victory our girls kept the JR Flyers bottle up in their zone until the final buzzer sounded with the score 2-0 Little Flyers.  After the game Kaila Booth boasted of her teammates play, “oh my God did you see Tori’s goal…dude that was crazy awesome…nobody could have stopped that shot from there”.  Both Victoria’s game winner and Charlotte’s insurance goal improved the Little Flyers league record to 7-0 and to the top of the league.

                Sunday our girls played a double header against a very strong Rome Girls Hockey Team at Ice World.  In the first game we started slow and continued to be slow well into the second period when we fell behind by one goal.  Our girls kept working and managed to tie the game 1-1 when Morgan Daly and Sophia Grant got the puck to Annie Dignazio to tie the game.  The third period started with the score tied at 1 and then our girls started to wake up and we generated some offense.  Both Teams played evenly when we caught a break with less than 1 minute in the game.  Kaila Booth and Morgan Daly got the puck on net and Jenn Calchi flipped in the game winner with 40 seconds left.

The girls spent the next three hours in an elaborate outdoor tailgate/locker room in the freezing weather.  Afterwards our girls started game two of the double header and were ready to play from the start.  Both teams battled back and forth trading opportunities and strong defensive play.  Their hard effort paid off with less than 1 second left in the first period when Morgan Daly got the puck to Rachel Clevens for a beautiful shot to the top right of the net from just inside the blueline.  Neither team showed any quit in them as they battle through the entire second period and half of the third when Annie Dignazio passed the puck to Katie Smiley in the slot.  Katie put the puck over the goalies left shoulder into the back of the net for the final score of 2-0. 

To date, our girls continue to make the best of what could only be called an unorthodox season.  Their efforts this past weekend certainly reflective of their hard work and ability to stay focused pays dividends in the quality of their play and quantity of their fun.