Mackenzie Hull ’20 in action at the Olympic Center (Photo : Mr. Michael Aldridge)
After two months of not playing any games, the Northwood Girls’ Hockey team traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to play games during a worldwide pandemic. The team played a series of five games (two Friday, two Saturday, and one Sunday). In addition to the games, the team also had an additional hour practice on Friday morning. The girls got plenty of ice time to say the least. Their record for the weekend was 2 wins and 3 losses.
With all the game times being so close together the girls did not have much time in between to recover. They had to go straight from one game to the next with maybe an hour or two break in-between.
“I thought we did really well,” said senior forward Mackenzie Hull, “especially for not being used to these quick turnaround times, and not having played like that in almost a year, I thought we handled it well and did what we had to do to be ready for the next game.” Hull was also pleased with the team’s preparation. “Everyone did what they needed to do: hydrate and eat proper food in-between. We all stretched and got loose before we had to go back on the ice,” added Hull.
After losing both games on Friday, the team bounced back Saturday, winning their first game of the weekend against Little Caesars 19u, 8-0. Sierra Butler ‘21, Natalie Zarcone ‘22, Brooke Kelley ‘23, and Kami O’Brien ‘23 all scored their first Northwood goals in the win. Evie Sheridan ‘22 played goalie and had her first Northwood shutout.
That night things got even more exciting. The girls played the 19u Chicago Young Americans, and the game went into overtime. During overtime, defenseman Natalie Zarcone ‘22 placed herself in front of the opposing goal and buried the puck in the net to win the game 1-0. “After a long game of no goal from either team, putting the game winner away was definitely very exciting,” said Zarcone. “We just came off a big win against Little Caesars and the team effort to pull away with this win against CYA was good to keep our momentum going for the rest of the weekend,” Zarcone added. Another highlight of the overtime win was the performance of goaltender Ainsley Tuffy ‘24 who had her first Northwood shutout in goal; she is only 14 years old playing at the highest level of 19u hockey, so this was a big moment for her as well!
Overall, it was a pretty good way to put 2020 behind us and start the 2021 part of the season. While the rest of the season is still a question mark, the girls are hopeful they will experience more weekends like their trip to Cleveland.
