Comets Cruise Past Hingham in Opener
Smith’s Six Points Leads BFA to Win in First Night of Christi Corrigan Blitz Tournament
By ANTHONY LABOR JR.
County Courier
ST. ALBANS – The BFA-St. Albans girls hockey team came out firing on all cylinders in its season-opener during the first night of the Christi Corrigan Blitz Tournament on Friday against Hingham, Mass.
The game was tight throughout the first two periods, but the Comets broke out for six goals in the third to come away with the 10-3 victory.
“I was very pleased with the fact there were multiple kids on the scoresheet, but also the fact that they did whatever they had to do to get those goals,” said BFA-St. Albans coach Luke Cioffi. “It was a total team effort and our depth was on display tonight.”
Junior Molly Smith led the charge throughout the game with six points (two goals, four assists) followed by sophomore Caroline Bliss who had five points (two goals, three assists).
Sophie Zemianek (two goals, two assists), Bri Jarvis (one goal, two assists), Jodie Gratton (one goal, one assist), Rachel Needleman (one goal) and Amber Poquette (one goal) also found the scoresheet for the Comets.
“The adrenaline is crazy right now,” said Smith. “We were all feeling the excitement all throughout the day getting ready for tonight’s game and we were just counting down the time until we finally got out on the ice.”
It was an exciting opening game for the Comets, who were ready to play in front of fans again after last season, which was not only shortened due to the pandemic, but also didn’t allow fans in the games.
“It felt really good having fans back in the stands tonight,” said Smith. “I was screaming through the halls of school today telling everyone to come out to the game, so it’s exciting the fact we can get people back in the rink for the games again.”
Smith got the scoring started early in the first period early in the first period when she took a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and into the next for the lead less than three minutes in.
“I was shaking I was so excited to get things going and then got the early goal,” said Smith. “Just having everyone out there and being back out there as a team was great.”
Hingham tied the game up less than 20 seconds after Smith’s goal, but Zemianek put the Comets ahead again later in the period when she skated the puck in and her initial shot was saved, but she followed her own rebound in and poked it into the net for the 2-1 lead heading into the second period.
Smith tallied a powerplay goal early in the second to give the Comets a 3-1 lead, but Hingham answered a couple of minutes later to keep it a 3-2 game. Zemianek again gave the Comets the momentum late in the period, as she skated into the offensive zone with a lot of speed and fired a wristshot home with a powerplay goal to give the Comets a 4-2 lead going into intermission.
The Comets scored three unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the third period. Jarvis scored her first goal as a Comet early in the period before Bliss scored two goals in a 17 second span to make it 7-2. After Hingham scored its third goal, Poquette, Gratton and Needleman scored goals for the final score.
Not only were the 10 goals an impressive feat in itself, but the Comets scored in almost every way imaginable. They scored with highlight reel goals, such as Zemianek’s second goal with a fantastic wrist shot and also Gratton’s powerplay goal from the right circle set up by a great pass from Smith in the third period. They scored with gritty goals such as Zemianek’s first goal following her own rebound or Bliss’ second goal in the third period where she found a loose puck in front of the net and chipped it in. They found goals from the point from both of Smith’s goals where she found opening’s and fired shots through traffic.
It was an impressive opening game from a team that not only is returning a lot of talent from last season, but also added quality players such as Jarvis, who came to BFA from Missisquoi and has already started to gel well with the team.
“Bri brings hard work to the ice both offensively and defensively and fits in with what we do as a team,” said Cioffi. “She’s a very good offensive player and just adds to our depth, which is great.”
Smith said she can already tell the 2021-22 version of the Comets is going to be special with the talent on the team and the chemistry they are already feeling.
“I think we are a very diverse team,” she said. “We don’t lack in any certain area. Every team has things they can work on, but we have defense and three offensive lines and we have solid goaltending.”
Special teams was a big part of the game on Friday. The Comets went 4-for-6 on the powerplay and the penalty kill went a perfect 6-for-6.
Two of the Comets’ goals came shortly after the team killed off a penalty.
“We were aggressive on the penalty kill and forced them to cough the puck up a bit which didn’t allow them to get a lot of chances,” said Cioffi. “Again that speaks to our depth where after a penalty kill, we are able to put another strong line out there and we were able to score after.”
It was a good start for sophomore goalie Makenna Montgomery, who only saw one period of game-action during her freshman year during the shortened season last year.
She finished Friday’s game with 19 saves, including some big saves when the game was still close in the first and second periods.
“I thought Makenna played very well in net,” said Cioffi. “She only saw 15 minutes of ice time last year, but was here and practicing with us every day, so it was nice to see her get her first win in her first varsity start.”
The Comets are back in action Saturday afternoon when they take on Potsdam, N.Y. in the championship of the tournament. Potsdam came away with a 3-0 win over Essex on Friday.
