Tigers Outlast T-Birds in 13-Goal Thriller
By Ben Kaufmann
HIGHGATE – Six different players tallied points for Missisquoi Wednesday evening against Middlebury in a high-scoring affair. The Tigers held a two-goal lead for 1:58 in the first period but after that, neither team led by more than a goal. After the visiting Tigers took a 7-6 lead with 8:24 left in the third, the game saw its longest scoring drought (by far) as Middlebury held on to win by that scoreline.
“All around good game, I have nothing to complain about. It was back and forth, good effort,” said MVU coach Katie Campbell. “We talked about that, we talked about how important it is to have 100% effort every game, every shift, and we did tonight.”
Holley MacLellan led MVU (0-5) with two goals and two assists, Karissa Leclair scored twice, Naomi Edele added a goal and an assist and Abby Wilcox notched her first career goal. Emily Airoldi recorded a pair of assists and Ava Hubbard, Lindsey Gagne and Rory Schreindorfer each tallied an assist. The balanced lines on the scoresheet was a welcome sight to Campbell.
“It was a much better team effort than last game. I thought we played really well together this game and it showed. We had more than just one or two people scoring every goal,” said Campbell. “Shoutout to to Abby Wilcox for her first varsity goal. That girl has been playing hockey for a year, a year and a half, and you’d never know. And half of that was a COVID season!”
Hard to believe from the final score, but there were a few minutes to open Wednesday’s game when a gritty defensive battle appeared to be on the horizon. MVU defenseman Brooke Rainville stopped a Middlebury one-on-one in the early minutes then dove into the net to prevent a Tiger goal. That dive came after MVU goalie Kali Favreau-Ward had slowed an impossible shot and Favreau-Ward made another difficult stop just seconds later.
Once the offense began, it didn’t end until the final half of the third period. A nice pass from MacLellan led to a Leclair goal and a 1-0 lead with just under five minutes gone in the first. Middlebury roared back with three straight in under two minutes to take the game’s only double-digit lead, a 3-1 advantage with 4:35 left in the first. Edele got the puck to MacLellan for a goal and, just 22 seconds later, Hubbard threw a backhand pass from the goal line up the boards to Leclair, who put a beautiful wrist shot to the goalie’s right. It was all Middlebury could do, including power play stops on Schreindorger and Haley Stefaniak in the final 30 seconds, to get out of the first clinging to a 3-3 draw.
Still on the power play to start the second, Missisquoi got off to a perfect start. Off the opening faceoff, Airoldi tried a shot which was saved and Hubbard had her attempt at the rebound blocked but Edele gave MVU a 4-3 lead just 15 seconds in with her rebound try. Middlebury equalized on its own power play five minutes later and scored on a wraparound with 4:02 left in the frame to take a 5-4 lead into the third.
Favreau-Ward was peppered in the first two minutes of the third but held strong, making a handful of her 20 saves on the night. That mettle proved to be important as MVU went after the Tiger lead. With just over three minutes gone, MacLellan swiped the puck in the Middlebury zone and was promptly tripped. The referee’s arm went up for the delayed penalty, but MacLellan got back up, kept the puck, moved around a pair of defensemen and rendered the penalty useless with a stunning goal to knot the score at 5-5.
Favreau-Ward made a brilliant save as the clock ran below 10 minutes remaining but her momentum took her to the ground and Middlebury capitalized on the open goal to take a 6-5 lead. MVU’s finest goal, Wilcox’s first, came just 37 seconds later. Gagne faked a shot from the point and as the Tigers charged to block, Gagne shuffled a pass ahead to MacLellan. MacLellan’s try at goal was blocked but Wilcox pounced on the rebound and made it a 6-6 game with 9:12 left in regulation. As was often the case on Wednesday, Middlebury bounced back with a strong shot 50 seconds later to retake the lead.
After Schreindorfer drew a tripping call on the Tigers with 5:09 to go, MVU went to work on the power play, but shots from Wilcox and Rainville were saved and a slapshot from Leclair sailed high. In the final 90 seconds of play, shots from Stefaniak and MacLellan missed just high and looks from Schreindorfer (twice) and Leclair were saved. Improbably, after a game which had seen just one scoreless spell longer than five minutes, the final 8:24 were scoreless and the game ended with the 7-6 Middlebury advantage.
“I think we might have been a little bit gassed toward the end but overall it was a good game,” Campbell said.
Missisquoi took time to recognize its five seniors ahead of Wednesday’s game. Stefaniak, Edele, Madison Aiken, Kayden Lapan and Abigail Gagne were honored before the puck dropped. Still in search of its first win, MVU travels to Burr & Burton on Saturday.
