Sierra Benjamin ’18 with a shot from the point at the Olympic Center.

(January 6-8, 2017) The girls hockey team traveled to Syracuse this past weekend for a double-header league weekend against prep rival Nichols School, the number two team in the MacLeod division of the North American Prep Hockey Association (NAPHA). Northwood Girls hockey had not beaten Nichols for four years, and the rivalry is intense.

In the first game, the team came out slow with Nichols scoring the first goal. Hanna Rose ‘18 tied it up with a powerplay goal, and the team ended the first period tied 1-1. The Huskies started the second period by successfully killing off a five on three, and spent much of the rest of the second period shorthanded. Nichols broke the tie with one minute left in the second to finish the period with the Huskies down 2-1.

After regrouping in the locker room, the Huskies came out strong in the third. Sierra Benjamin ‘18 tied it up with another powerplay goal. The score stayed 2-2 through most of the third, until Keeley Rose ‘18 scored in the last minute of play winning it for the huskies 3-2. For the first time in four years the Northwood squad had beaten Nichols!

The second game started differently and the Huskies came out very strong, having a few good chances early on, but Nichols capitalized first with a quick shot off a faceoff to make it 1-0. Quickly after that Miranda Bookman ‘20  scored off a beautiful feed from Nikki Kendrick ‘18 to tie it up. The first period ended tied 1-1. Early in the second period the Huskies scored a goal that would’ve made the game 2-1, but it was disallowed because of a high stick infraction. Nichols then scored from the point to go up 2-1 going into the second, even though the Huskies outshot Nichols by a wide margin. The game stayed 2-1 through most of the third, until the last minute when Moe Tsukimoto ‘18 tipped in a Sierra Benjamin ‘18 shot to knot the score at 2. The Huskies dominated the game, outshooting Nichols 50-10, which illustrates a hockey truism: the scoreboard doesn’t always represent the game.

(December 2-4, 2016) The girls’ hockey team traveled to Port Hope, Ontario to compete in their first league North American Prep Hockey Association (NAPHA) weekend. The girls went 2-1-1 on the weekend to improve to 4-1-1 overall in league play and 17-4-3 overall.

Photo: Olivia Skrillof

The first game was against the toughest match-up of the weekend, the Stanstead College Spartans. The Huskies came out strong, holding Stanstead to two goals in as many periods. Unfortunately in the third for the huskies, 5 goals found their way to the back of the net, leading to a final score of 0-7. Despite this tough loss, Hanna Markel ‘17 was exceptionally strong in net and made a total of 45 saves.

After resting up the team traveled to Trinity College School to face off against King’s Edgehill School (KES) and Rice Memorial School. The Huskies beat KES 2-1 and Rice 3-1. Kendall Dubin ‘18 had her first goal of the season against Rice while Moe Tsukimoto ‘18 netted two.

The next day The Huskies played The RNS Riverhawks. It was a hard fought game resulting in a 3-3 tie.

After this first weekend The huskies lead their division in the league. After a break for finals, the girls will travel to Massachusetts for the Cushing Academy tournament over the Christmas holiday.

Sara Donatello ’18 (Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge)

“I think that our first NAPHA weekend went well. We lost pretty badly to Stanstead, but I don’t think that the score represented how we played. We came out strong against KES the next morning and beat them 2-1. Later that night, we played RICE and even though we didn’t play as well as we had wanted to, we beat them 3-1. Our final game against RNS Sunday morning ended in a 3-3 tie. I think that we could have pulled out a win, but we got a little too comfortable with our 3-1 lead going into the second period and ended up getting scored on twice in the second, but came out in the third and played a solid period to end the weekend. We came out of the weekend first in our division with 6 of the 9 points and second in the NAPHA league.”

– Sara Donatello ‘18 Assistant Captain

(November 11-13, 2016) Northwood Girls Hockey pulled off an impressive weekend sweep, winning all three games. The first game against Selects Academy was close and hard-fought, but the Huskies came out on top beating them 4-2 with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

After watching the Colgate-Brown women’s game, the girls prepared for their matchup against OHA Maroon. Senior Ashley Davis pulled off her 4th shutout of the season to secure the 1-0 victory.

On Sunday morning the girls finished off the weekend with a decisive victory against NAHA Red, beating them 6-1.  Moe Tsukimoto ’18 earned 4 points in that matchup.

Senior Katelinn Cummings, scored her first Northwood goal this weekend and the Tsukimoto-(Lauren) Klein- (Kylie) Kroes line combined for an impressive 12 points.

The Huskies’ power-play this season has been deadly. As a reference point, the top power-play in the NHL is currently at 33.3%. The Huskies have been able to convert on 40.7% of their chances. The team has been exceptional on the kill as well, successfully killing off 93.8% of their opponents’ power play chances, sneaking away with two short-handed goals to date.

“This weekend we were faced up against some tough competition. We knew going into this Showcase that it wasn’t going to be easy. We all came together as a team and played our hockey like we know how to. I’m eager to see how much more we excel as the season goes on. This is a great team to be a part of and I know we can continue pulling through with big wins!”

-Captain Kira Collins ‘17 #9

During the school’s Thanksgiving break, the team travels to Syracuse to play a doubleheader against a new rival in the region, Selects Academy.

“I think we have seen a lot of success early on this season for a number of reasons.  Disciplined systems play and special teams have been crucial, but our goaltending has been such a key factor.  When we’re giving up fewer than one goal a game, on average, we can prepare for any opponent we face with a lot of confidence.  That, along with our ability to find the back of the net on the other end, is a pretty simple equation for success.”

    -Head Coach Lucy Schoedel

This past weekend (October 23) Northwood Girls Hockey traveled to Potsdam. After a brief tour of SUNY Potsdam, they defeated the U-16 Potsdam Icestorm 8-0. Syd Collins (Forward, 2017), Keeley Rose (Defense, 2018), Miranda Bookman (Forward, 2020), Nicole Kendrick (Defense, 2018), Kelsey Bannister (Forward, 2017), and Moe Tsukimoto (Forward, 2018) each tallied goals. Rose and Bookman registered their first Northwood goals, while Bannister and Collins both put two in. Hanna Markel (2017) earned her second shutout this season. After the game the team ate lunch with the Potsdam Ice Storm and hosted a brief information session about Northwood School for the local U16 team and their families. When all questions were answered and stomachs full, the team headed home to rest up for a big weekend ahead.

Next weekend, the team travels to Detroit to compete in the Two Nations Cup, along with 27 top 19U/Jr  teams from the US and Canada.

“The girls played a smart, simple game and it paid off.  Everybody saw a lot of ice time and we are getting every line contributing consistently.  That in itself should give the girls a lot of confidence heading into the weekend- I know it goes a long way with the coaching staff to know we can trust every line to perform the way we need them to.”

-Lucy Schoedel, Head Coach

“The team came together nicely for a win, we hope to carry this momentum through to the up-coming weekend”

–Sydney Collins, Senior, Right wing, #6