NAHA Holiday Tournament- Jay Peak Ice Haus- NAHA Newsletter Volume 9, December 16-18, 2011

(as the NAHA girls head home, Tori & Kayla’s teacher, Kyle, steps in and shares his views of the Holiday weekend!)-

I don’t want to come off as a guy who has never seen a good hockey game before, nor as a guy who is easily impressed. The truth is, I am not easily impressed.  I am jaded and spoiled by a life of comfortable leisure, solid recreation time and intermittent international adventures.  But all I can say is WOW!  What a pleasure it was to finally be able to see our NAHA girls in action.  And I mean action!  That word seems to best sum up all of the time that myself and other staffers spent watching games this past weekend at The Jay Peak Ice Haus.  It was action packed from start to finish and I walked out of the rink with a distinct sense of pride.  Pride that I am able to be a part of something like this school and pride in the effort and play of our student athletes.

Hockey, by its nature, is a fast and physical game, and I can’t help but be massively impressed with the play of these fine young athletes.  As a teacher/tutor at NAHA I meet these girls on each weekday morning.  I get to see them when they are just kids, fresh out of bed, mucking through classes, and trying (and succeeding) to get the most out of the academic subjects that will lead them into high end colleges and universities.  Up until now that is how I viewed them, only because I had not yet experienced the change that happens in a person when they get into a competitive environment.  I am not a naïve person, and I also get the “red mist” when I compete.  I know this change very well, and I knew all along that these girls are capable of this transformation.  But until now I had not experienced it and I am blown away!

What a great way to spend a few hours over the weekend.  I donned my warm clothes, put on my brimmed hat with special Press Tag inserted in the band to guarantee access to staff only areas in the rink, stuffed my camera and tape recorder (yep, you read that correctly, TA-PE RE-COR-DER) in my pockets and headed up to the Ice Haus to see these girls play some hockey.  NAHA White took to the ice to battle Edouard Montpetit.  The first period was a back and forth battle, each team testing the other and steadily ramping up their play.  Despite an early power play, NAHA was unable to capitalize.  However, it seemed to me that the Winterhawks had control of the puck more than their opponents and it was only a matter of time before they put one in.  During the second period, Montpetit took their play up a notch and though it seemed that NAHA still had the better puck control, the Canadians were in our territory more often.  Montpetit drew a penalty giving NAHA a second opportunity to play at an advantage.  Our players could smell the blood in the water and they were not going to let another power play go with out a score.  Paige Savage, assisted by Lauren Kilroy, took it in and put us on the scoreboard.  In the third period, with 9 minutes left on the clock Annie Pankowski left her defender trailing and scored the unassisted short-handed goal.  Minutes later, I watched a great play from Jenny Ryan, scoring on a sweet breakaway but it was ruled as no goal by the referees.  It certainly looked like a score from my perspective.  Regardless, White took the win with a 2-0 victory.

Red took to the ice to play L’Estrie, another Canadian team.  Period one was busy right off the start.  With 4 minutes left on the clock L’Estrie scored in a heavy mix-up right in front of the net.  It gets pretty hectic in those close scrambles!  NAHA Red took a penalty early in the second period giving an advantage to L’Estrie but our solid defense got us out of trouble without any further setbacks on the scoreboard.  During the third period and on a NAHA power play McKenna Brand scored to make the game 1-1.  Shortly thereafter, Amanda Martin made another goal to bring Red to a one point lead.  With 2:40 left on the clock Errica D’Erico, with an assist from McKenna Brand, scored another goal for NAHA which gave us the final score of 3-1.  Victory!  Goalie Julie Neuburger did an excellent job stopping 14 of 15 shots on goal.  Overall it was a foot stompin‘, glass thumpin‘, larynx stretchin’ good time!  By the time I left my voice was shot, my hands were sore from pounding the glass, and my feet were freezing but I was stoked!

I was back to cheer on the girls for their Saturday games which were just as exciting with White winning their 11:30 game against Edouard Montpetit 8-2, a real blowout!  Later that evening White played another Canadian team, College Limoilou.  It was a back and forth battle and this team was fast and physical.  White responded well to the Canadian challenge, answering back every time Limoilou made a play.  White tied the  game in the third and forced a 3:00 minute overtime.  This period ended with no scores and it went to a shootout.  After a series of brilliant saves and goals and for each side, Montpetit hit us with a final score to bring their advantage to 3-2 and a victory for them.  It’s a tough way to lose, but I thought that White played an incredible game and could have easily been the victors.  With competition this high and many teams being very well matched it can be difficult to predict the outcomes of these hotly contested games.

I think that one of my favorite experiences of the weekend was seeing the girls off the ice and out of school.  That is to say, in a place that was not athletic or academic.  We were just people, talking and trading stories, sharing jokes and jibing each other like old friends.  It was a particular pleasure to watch Dylanne, Jenny, Ali, and Hannah beat up on Andrew, one of my fellow teachers and a close friend.  Nice verbal hits ladies!  It was also great to be able to meet and talk with some of my students’ parents.  My only lamentation is that our season is short and we have only this one big tournament here at our home rink.  Perhaps that will change in the future with the completion of Jay Peak’s expansion, an increase in enrollment and some pressure from NAHA parents.  Come to Vermont people!

Overall, the weekend games were very exciting.  I think I speak for all other staffers, especially those who had not seen our girls play before, when I say that these ladies are electric on the ice!  They move and shift, strategize and execute with an efficient grace that can only be exhibited after years of competitive play.  I am glad to be a part of their time here and I see great things for the future.  My hat goes off to the coaches and especially all our fantastic players!  Go Winterhawks!

Best Holiday wishes and thanks for reading!

Kyle

Kyle’s pix:

Native New Yorker Jenny Ryan, number 5, looks for the scoring opportunity.

Caarlee Turner, ready for the face off, with Sarah Kelly backing her up.

Annie Pankowski, number 39, hailing from sunny California, sweeps aggressively toward the goal.

Number 22, local girl Rachel Morse grabs the puck and mounts the offensive, watch out little ones!

Sweetheart Alison Greene, lucky number 13, plays hard and still has time to smile for the camera.

Dylanne Crugnale, the Intimidator, sets up for a shot against Edouard Montpetit.

Tori & Kayla’s Newsletter

Thursday Dec.8

Gearing up for one of the biggest tournaments this year, we were up at 6 AM to pack the coach bus and start our long 9 hour bus ride to Kitchener, Ontario. After a hard week at practice, it was nice to be able to relax and catch up on some sleep. We stopped only once, the girls got some food and a few of us did a jog and some stretches to loosen our legs from sitting for a long period of time. Once we arrived at the Holiday Inn, we settled into our rooms and waited for the pasta to arrive. It was nice to have the rest of the night off to relax and do some homework, and go to bed early.

Friday Dec.9

Our first game was early in the morning against the Toronto Aeros. The girls were really pumped up for this game, because the Aeros were an undefeated team and we were looking for some good hockey. It was one of the best games we have played so far this season. We came out with high energy and scored the first goal, setting the bar high and maintaining our forceful pace. Our hard work paid off and we walked out with a 4-1 win.  Our coach had only positive, up-lifting  praises in the locker room after the game. We cranked up the music and celebrated our win, dancin’ and cooling down in fine NAHA style.

Later that night we played Stony Creek, a tough team with several talented players. They have always been competitive and a good match up for us, and both teams came out hard and fast. We battled back and forth, scoring one goal after another, but with many retaliation penalties it was inevitable for them to get the upper hand. The third period ended in a tie score of 3-3 which resulted in overtime. We played four on four for the majority of the three minute overtime. In the last minute we took two penalties back to back and were down two players, putting us in a dangerous five on three situation. They scored a back door goal to end the game 4-3.  Despite the loss, it was a tightly contested game, hot from start to finish, and we played well.  Back at our hotel our dinner filled us up and refueled our bodies after a day of hard work. After this we returned to our rooms to get some good sleep before tomorrows games.

Saturday Dec. 10

The next morning we woke later than usual, thankful we had the opportunity to sleep in a little. We traveled to the rink for our game against Mississauga. Knowing that we didn’t present ourselves the way we wanted to in our game against Stony Creek, we had a fun and upbeat warm up to loosen us up and prepare us for a tough match. Our result against the Aeros proved that we have amazing team chemistry and we work hard to support each other every second of every shift, and we were ready to show that effort again. For the first two periods we fought hard to keep our score up, but again we battled back and forth and couldn’t seem to find a way to generate a lot of offense. In the third we finally found the chemistry we were looking for and put three goals in. During this third and last period we supported and worked hard for each other, as opposed to ourselves, and this is why we achieved the win.

Our second game of the day was against the home team, Kitchener. During warmup we were on the receiving end of some verbal hostilities with a couple immature remarks from the other team, but we shook it off, had another great warmup and decided that we’d beat them where it counts, on the score board. They were a tough team and got physical with us, but we kept our composure and didn’t make any stupid penalties. We battled to put the puck in the net throughout the first, and eventually managed a goal in the second. Knowing one goal was all we needed to win, we played composed and defensively during the third. The game ended in a 1-0 victory for NAHA. We were especially satisfied with this win because of the rude remarks flung at us before the game. We went back to the hotel and hit the sheets hard, we had a championship game to play in the morning.

Sunday Dec. 11

We woke around 7:30 Sunday morning, packed everything and loaded the bus in preparation for our 9 hour trip back to NAHA. But before going anywhere we had a big game to win.  After we arrived at the rink and unloaded our bags, we sat down to watch Red play in their championship game. They ended with a tough loss of 1-0, but overall they had a very solid tournament. Though it was early, our warm-up was, as usual, upbeat and playful and you could tell we were all extremely excited to step on the ice. We played solid throughout all three periods both offensively and defensively. The game ended in a 3-0 win. We had been working hard all weekend and all year and victory here was sweet.  We came together wonderfully as a team, and it really showed in our play and dedication to each other. We committed to every shift and it paid off. As champions of our third Can/Am of the year, we accomplished one of this years’ most important team goals.

2011 USA Canada Cup Champions

As always thanks for reading!

Tori and Kayla

 

NAHA Red & White medalled in the final USA Canada Cup Series weekend of 2011 in Kitchener ON

 NAHA Red brought the attention on themselves from the college scouting world with the progress they’ve made, both as a team and individually, in the short two plus months they’ve been together. Coming from many different parts of the country, with different backbrounds, twelve new players joined 8 returnees, and have dedicated themselves in practice, in the off ice workouts and through their competitions to becoming the best they can be. That meant creating a new common language, developing an understanding of the game as taught from the NAHA perspective, learning to trust teammates and create bonds on the ice with linemates and D partners. Laying the foundation for a young team to learn team play is a key component to the USA Hockey’s ADM philosophy, and has been a cornerstone of the NAHA Development system since it’s early years. We’ve tweaked it every year along the way, and have never been happier with where our teaching curriculum for hockey is at both in camps in our winter session. From a 2-3 start in the first Detroit USA Canada Cup weekend, this team and the players on it have grown, played great hockey against older teams and had success, and it all came together in the Kitchener weekend, going 4-0 in the U17 round robin leading up to the Gold Medal game with our great friends, the Ottawa Midget Senators. It was a great game, a chess match, as opposed to their first match, and 8-1 loss. Right up to the final minute it was a 1 goal game, until Ottawa got the empty net goal, and NAHA Red captured the Silver Medal, something they should be very poud of.

NAHA White entered the weekend after some inconsistent play over their past 2 JWHL weekends, but were excited to embark on one of their favorite events of the year. As defending Gold Medalists, they focused on their goals, and the practices during the preceding week showed it, with a singular mindset, work ethic and focus from all the players. We feel these weekends and the emotion the bring from our teams are key in the development process at their age. Everything we do seeks to prepare our student-athletes for their next step in college and for some national teams, and their heightened excitement and anticipation for these weekends is similar to the biggest league or playoff weekends they’ll see at the next level. If we can prepare them to handle these weekends, learn to know what it takes to compete, have success and develop confidence, that’s a big step to the next level, and one many programs who don’t have these opportunities can offer their players. They knew they’d open with the Toronto Jr. Aeros, undefeated in their league, the PWHL acclaimed by many as the best league in the world for this age players. They also had the PWHL  #2, #5 and #9 teams on their schedule, and looked forward to a great tournament. They didn’t disappoint playing some of the best hockey the college hockey scouts had seen at this age level ever, beating the top 3 Canadian teams by 3 goals in each game. We had fun with the team adding new nuances to the power play, adjusting forechecks for the weekend, and working to teach the girls to play within a system, one that gives them opportunities to retain their creativity while teaching discipline, all steps to the next level. That set up a rematch with their lone blemish of the weekend, an over-time loss to the Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres in a penalty filled and quirky game. The Gold Medal game was fast paced, physical and exciting, played in the historic Kitcher Aud’s main arena. NAHA White claimed the prize with a 3-0 win, and the Gold Medal for the 2nd consecutive year.

Congrats to both NAHA teams on a great first half of the season, and Happy Holidays to all!! Both teams end with a home weekend of games at the Jay Peak Ice Haus, schedule on our home page.

2011 USA Canada Cup Champions

JWHL Weekend- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Waking up early without a cloud in the sky, we departed NAHA at 8:15 a.m. to start our four hour journey to RPI for the weekend.  It was a league weekend, which means that we were to play four different teams.  Our first game was at 3 p.m. against NSA (National Sports Academy), a team we have lost to once before.  Our plan was to crush them because one of our team goals is to never lose to the same team twice.  We had possession of the puck 98 percent of the time but we couldn’t seem to put the puck in the net.  They got a few lucky breaks and scored two goals, and an empty net at the end.  We were all bummed, and we need to find a way to come out on top when the bounces don’t going our way.  With only a few hours between games, we got a snack and headed back to the rink to play the Washington Pride, hoping for a better game.  The game started with Pride scoring the first goal, once again we felt we couldn’t buy a goal; we responded well to the goals they scored, but never led the game.  An ending score of 3-3 wasn’t the way we wanted to start off our weekend.  In the locker room we sat thinking to ourselves, confused and disappointed with our apparent lack of effort and follow through.  We arrived late to our hotel, there food waiting for us and after eating we went straight to bed to rest up for our morning game against Colorado Selects.

We woke at about 8:30 Saturday morning, gathered our things and checked out of our hotel.  We packed up the vans and had a 30 minute drive to Union College in Albany, NY, where we’d play our 3^rd game of the weekend against the Colorado Selects. Lacing up early, and ready for the game we hit the ice fast. Colorado is always a tough team to play against because they are aggressive and they challenge our composure. We had many shots, but were only able to put two pucks in the net, ending the game with a 2-0 win. We were very happy with the win because of our dissatisfying loss and tie the previous day, but we had another game to play before we could get too excited.

We had a long span of time separating the two games so we sat down at Denny’s to refuel ourselves with a tasty breakfast. After we ate, we headed to the mall and met up with our SAT takers, Tori Hickel and Paige Savage. Despite the tough physical game none of us wanted to trade places with these two.  Some went to the movies, others enjoyed their downtime shopping for Christmas gifts to give their friends and families. We headed back to RPI for our second game. Our opponents, the Boston Shamrocks, surprised us by winning their first two games. We came out in warm-ups motivated to play, scoring  four goals in the first period.  During the second we scored our fifth, and with a defensive error on our part they were able to put one on the scoreboard. The game ended with a 5-1 win, our favor, and we hurried to pack up the vans to head home. Julie and Bill had a tough night drive ahead of them and most of us slept all the way home. Overall, the weekend wasn’t perfect, but we are taught lessons everyday here, and we learned this weekend that a few errors can cause losses, so being prepared is exceptionally important.

 

Thanksgiving Break & Kayla’s Weekend Look Ahead

This is what Vermont should look like this time of the year but we had to travel 3000 miles to see snow! Enjoy!

Friday, Nov.19

Hello All!  Hope your Thanksgiving Holiday was as good as mine!  Here’s a quick report.  My long trip back to Alaska started off with a mellow drive to the airport with the few girls that hadn’t left yet. All of us stragglers were going to far off locales; some were heading to Seattle, some to Michigan, I had to continue my journey with a third flight, I would be airborne all day.  My first jump was to JFK, an airport that I absolutely dread based on the cleanliness factor, or rather the lack thereof.  I have also had my luggage misplaced going through NYC at least three times in the past.  I had a four hour layover so I took that time to catch up on some sleep before my next jump, a six hour flight to Seattle.  This afforded me an opportunity to take part in the fun activity of people watching which always makes the time pass faster. The sheer volume and variety of people in and around NYC is amazing.  Arriving in Anchorage was a great feeling, being back home for the first time in two months.  Having been accustomed to the unseasonably warm weather in Vermont, the moment I walked out the door, the crisp air stole my first breath.  My mom got out of the car to greet me in her huge down coat, I felt like I was hugging a huge marshmallow.  Driving home, looking outside, it appeared as if there was a big white blanket over the town. Once I walked into the front door the smile that had appeared on my face upon touchdown got even bigger.  Being in the presence  my family and pets brought me pure joy.  Early the next morning I woke up to a winter wonderland outside and my cat cuddled up by my face.  Again, joy is the word that fits here.  That first day I got to see my friends and go to a high school hockey game, in Anchorage the social scene is at the rink.  My vacation consisted of hockey and spending time with family and friends. Because I had to travel back to NAHA on Thanksgiving Day, we had an advance Turkey Day on Tuesday. With just my mom, dad and my old friend Hunter, we sat down with a 30 pound bird and a table full of other foodstuffs.  We ate till we couldn’t eat anymore, a successful feast.  My last day home was bittersweet.  I was sad to leave the comfort of my home and family but thrilled to get back to school and my friends and hockey.

Tori

Hi Gang!  Here’s a look at the upcoming weekend.  White team will be spending this upcoming weekend at RPI in Albany, New York. This will be our fourth league weekend of the year, opposing National Sports Academy, the Washington Pride, the Boston Shamrocks, and the Colorado Selects. Having won every league game last weekend, we are well prepared and ripped to play but not over confident.   We have learned to always take our opponents seriously.  This week in practice we have worked on new systems specifically targeting power play and penalty kill strategies and are very excited to put them to use this weekend in preparation for Kitchner, the next Canada/America Cup event.  One of our goals this year is to win a Can/Am and facing off against three of the most talented teams in Canada, this will be a difficult task, but it is doable. We are very excited to get going and will keep you updated!  Stay tuned for next weeks report.  Cheers all!

Kayla

 

NAHA Players on the ice after college…

Former NAHA player Watrous refs the Pride Shamrocks game

We enjoy keeping up with our NAHA alum, and it’s a real treat to run into them as we travel around the country each season. Many of the young women, now college grads, look to give back to the game and we know of several who have really embraced refereeing as a chance to stay in touch with the game, be on the ice, and still enjoy the game they love. This past weekend we met up with Sonny Watrous (Albuquerque NM) who was a referee in one of our JWHL games at Brown. A Providence College and USA Hockey U22 Team alum, she came by Brown on Friday to say hi and watch NAHA play, then reffed a game on Saturday. It’s amazing how many of our alum who follow NAHA. We constantly tell the girls here now that it was the alum in college and now in the working world who set the table for our current girls. They forged the way from an emerging new organization, had great college careers, and developed the reputation and model for NAHA players excelling in the college ranks that makes college recruiters take a long hard look at our girls every year. Sonny was certainly one of those who forged the way setting the bar with her career for current NAHA players, and there are many others that we talk to our current players about who helped along the way. There are also many alum still playing in women’s leagues, on senior teams and refereeing at high levels. We ran into Jenny Cameron (Ft. Lauderdale FL) at the USA Hockey Development Camp in Rochester last summer, where she was reffing following her career at Mercyhurst.

NAHA coach Erica Kromm and Brown alum checking out some of the Brown plaques around the rink...

There are also many former NAHA coaches who have migrated to the college and national team ranks as coaches, both on ice and strength & conditioning positions. Many started as our current coaches Erica Kromm and Julie Rising, moving right from playing to coaching at NAHA with aspirations to coach at the college level. There are many opportunities for women in hockey coaching circles, an we work to help our coaches make the steps to the next level by helping them prepare for those expectations just as we do with the NAHA players.

... including the Brown Women's Captains plaque, as a former captain!