Thunderbirds Upend Undefeated Kingdom Blades
STAFF REPORTS
The Missisquoi girls hockey team has been waiting all year for its breakout game. Going into Wednesday’s season finale against undefeated North Country/Lyndon made it look like that would be difficult to find to end the regular season.
The Thunderbirds capitalized on their opportunity and had stellar goaltending by Maddie Conley on their way to a 3-1 win over the Kingdom Blades.
Conley finished the game with 42 saves to lead the team to its second victory on the year.
“She has progressively gotten better and better as the season has gone on,” said MVU coach Brian Fortin. “When she plays like this, we have a chance to win any game we play. I like our odds going into playoffs when she is at the top of her game.”
Freshman Bri Jarvis scored all three goals for the Thunderbirds in the game, with two coming unassisted, which was huge without senior captain Breezy Parent in the lineup.
She scored a goal in each period, including creating a breakaway for herself and scoring an empty-netter late in the third.
“Bri is a natural goal-scorer and the net has eluded her the last couple of games, and we knew she was due for a game like this and without Breezy in the lineup, she didn’t disappoint,” said Fortin. “Her puck control, speed and shot make her hard to defend and unpredictable, and she is only a freshman.”
Karissa LeClair picked up an assist on Jarvis’ first goal of the game.
It was a good way for the Thunderbirds to finish out the season taking down one of the top teams after they had a couple games slip away this year after holding leads in the third period.
The Thunderbirds finished the season with a 2-5 record and will wait for pairings for the upcoming postseason to be announced on Thursday to find out their next opponent.
“This game had me fired up,” said Fortin. “We played a complete game, battled hard and protected a lead. It was a nail-biter right to the end and you couldn’t draw up a better game to play before going into the playoffs. Our record may be 2-5, but we have been in every game this year and I still believe if we continue this trend of getting better, we could make some waves in the playoffs.”
