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U19 Girls: Crowned MAWHA Champions in Undefeated Season

By JB, 02/28/22, 7:00PM EST

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Aston, PA -- Big hockey weekend all over the country and the U19 Little Flyers women put their signature on it.  After finishing the MAHWA regular season undefeated (20-0-1) they entered the 2021-2022 MAHWA Tournament on Saturday afternoon against the Snider women.  It was obvious early on that both teams forgot about the regular season and showed up at the rink ready to play rough playoff hockey.  Eve Hill was first to get the Little Flyers on the scoreboard with a fancy back handed bar down shot with the assist from Kaila Booth.  The Snider women answered by turning up their play and the crowd witness another 28 minutes of scoreless play.  Then deep into the second period Guin Donovan got an insurance goal to bring the score to 2-0.  Early in the third the hot hands of Donovan got her second goal with a sweet assist from Olivia Perrin.  The final buzzer sounded with the Little Flyers women wining 3-0 and moving on to face Tri City.

 A much-improved Tri City team showed up to the semifinal game with something to prove and they really put it to our girls.  It took netminder extraordinaire Sydney Babin to use every trick in her book to keep Tri City off the score board until our girls found their game.  Then late in the first period Morgan Daly worked the puck to Jenna Calchi who found Kaila Booth for the first goal of the game.  Tri City showed what they were made of when they fought back and tied the game early in the second period.  That was it for scoring until late in the third when the Little Flyers Dynamic Duo of Lexi Poulin and Kaila Booth paired up for the game winning goal.  It was a sight to see when Poulin got the puck to Booth for what can only be described as a sick goal.  This set the stage for the two U19 MAHWA heavy weights to slug it out for the Championship game on Sunday afternoon.

Now to be honest I typically would never describe a women’s hockey team as heavy weights for some obvious reasons but in this case, it is truly the best description.  Games between the Little Flyers and Junior Flyers have been close from the beginning.  I’m not sure why this true.  Perhaps the reason is the proximity of the two teams or maybe the reason lies with the familiarity of the players between the clubs, as many attend same high schools.  For whatever the reason these match ups have always been exciting to watch.  I can assure the readers that this match up was one for the record books.

Both Little Flyers and Junior Flyers had some difficulty earning their spot in the finals because every MAHWA team stepped up their game for the playoffs.   This made for some for some unexpected close games.  So, each team had lots of players with lots of bumps and bruises but both clubs were ready for some more when the puck dropped a 3 pm.  Right from the start Lexi Poulin ended up on the wrong side of particularly rough exchange at the boards that earned the Little Flyers a Power Play.  The Junior Flyers battled hard and killed it off.  So, for more than two periods the teams battled hard and traded both metaphoric and literal punches back and forth.  A serious amount of what could be euphemistically referred to as “players passionate play” went unnoticed by the referees but the score keeper’s hand still cramped up from the amount of ink he used recording penalties.  There was an amusing moment when Kaila Booth got up off her back at center ice to have a seemingly polite discussion with both referees while blood was dripping from her mouth.  They cleared the air and the players, and the referees got back to doing their jobs.  Afterall, this was a Championship game and neither team was giving an inch.

Maybe it was the discussion with the referees or perhaps the friendly verbal exchanges amongst the players on the ice but both teams found a way to get even more intense.  Intensity turned to joy when Booth and Katrina Conway, set up Charlotte, the Big Game Hunter, Labre for a shot to put the Little Flyer up 1-0 at the 12-minute mark in the third.  The parents in two counties started hold their collective breath as it looked like that might be the game winner.  Three minutes later the Junior Flyers took advantage of one of many of the games Power Plays to tie the game at 1-1.  Parents and fans started breathing again but each breath was interlaced with four letter words like “Darn!” or “Yeah!” depending on their perspective.  The players on both sides were looking for breath as they settled in to start battling again.  They all thought they had 9 minutes left to earn the MAHWA banner.

After hundreds of hours of practice and time in the gym the player poured the hearts into the next 9 minutes, but it just wasn’t enough to settle who would get the banner as the third period buzzer sounded and the scoreboard showed 1-1.  Instantly questions were heard everywhere, “Is it a shootout…Is it sudden death overtime…how many on the ice”.  All the questions were answered by the referees and the league commissioner when they let the benches know the fight was entering round 4 with sudden death rules.  Both teams took to the ice and started slugging it out again.  The excitement was palpable after a Junior Flyers player was forced to hook a player to the ice to stop a scoring chance.  This set up a Little Flyers power play but the Junior Flyers penalty kill was up to the task and the clock kept ticking.  Both coaches were keeping the players shifts short but fatigue was setting in for the everyone.  That is when the Little Flyers set up the simplest routine play with Charlotte Labre skating the puck along the boards and seeing Evelyn Pryadkin on the far point.  The Junior Flyers collapsed on her but Labre was able to get the puck over towards Pryadkin through the smallest of seems.  Pryadkin moved to get the puck and keeping her head up to see the “mother of all screens” being set by Samantha Roberts.  Pryadkin let the perfect shot fly directly at Robert’s head.  Using reflexes reserved for life saving events and setting screens in hockey Samantha stared down the shot until the last possible millisecond to move and the puck sailed past Junior Flyers netminder’s head for the win. 

After a few minutes of the players celebration the bleachers erupted with applause from everyone in gratitude for witnessing an epic game.  The Little Flyers move on to Atlantic District Tournament next week for what hopes to be another exciting series of games.