MVU DROPS HEARTBREAKER TO RAIDERS IN OT
By Ben Kaufmann
HIGHGATE – Missisquoi surrendered a lead with just 89 seconds left in the third period of Wednesday’s battle with U-32, ultimately succumbing in overtime and dropping a 6-5 final to the Raiders.
A Holley MacLellan hat trick and eye-popping 32 saves from Kali Favreau-Ward led Missisquoi (1-8) in a back-and-forth battle on Wednesday. After a scoreless first, a five-minute major assessed to the Raiders (6-3) in the second period opened up the floodgates. The game was tied at 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and, finally, 5-5.
U-32 kicked off the scoring six minutes into the second period when a well-screened shot from Grace Lagerstedt at the blue line got in for a 1-0 Raider lead. On a standard power play three minutes later, MacLellan slid a puck to Karissa Leclair. Leclair’s shot was saved but Rory Schreindorfer was in the perfect spot on the far side to poke in the rebound and even the score.
A violent elbow put U-32 in the box for five minutes with 4:52 left in the second and chaos ensued. A shorthanded one-timer gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead which lasted for just 16 seconds. Abigail Wilcox tossed a puck at the U-32 goal and it was blocked. Emily Airoldi tried to punch in the rebound and, though she couldn’t quite get to it, a path was cleared for MacLellan to pounce and knot the score at 2-2. U-32 answered a minute later with another shorthanded goal and once again held the lead for less than a minute. Leclair swiped the puck and flew in on a breakaway; her first try was stopped by the Raider goalie Renee Porter but her second found the back of the net to make it a 3-3 game with just 27 seconds left in the period. A diving block from Madison Guyette in front of the MVU goal helped the Thunderbirds get to intermission still tied.
If you’d told MVU coach Katie Campbell at the onset of the five-minute power play that four goals would be scored, she’d likely have taken it. Two of those goals going to the Raiders probably wasn’t the T-Birds’ desired outcome, however.
“Tonight wasn’t our best performance, I think we could have done a lot better. But it’s coming, it’s coming, I think we’re right there on the edge,” Campbell said, noting that her squad is heading in the right direction after a tough start to the season.
“I think we really caught our stride in the last three games. We had a lot of cancellations at the beginning of the season, big gaps in between games, and I didn’t think that helped. Now that we’re playing games more steadily I think that we’re really starting to find our stride.”
A one-timer from a faceoff in the MVU zone gave U-32 the lead back, 4-3, with just over five minutes gone in the third. It feels like this has been written before, but U-32’s lead lasted less than a minute. 25 seconds after the Raider goal, MacLellan barrelled into the Raider end and lifted a beautiful high shot to even things up at 4-4. Three minutes later, it was MVU’s turn to take its first lead of the night, of course from the stick of MacLellan. The Missisquoi freshman stole the puck and went in on a breakaway, using a beautiful deke to pull Porter out and give her Thunderbirds a 5-4 lead with 6:52 to play.
“Another good night for Holley,” Campbell said. “She’s big for us, she’s big for us up front. We’re working on a few things with her to get her really up to that next level that I know she can get to, and it won’t take long.”
Leclair had Porter beat a few seconds after the restart but hit the crossbar. Disaster nearly followed for Missisquoi when, on the power play, U-32 knocked a rebound in. A brief conference of the officials determined the puck had been kicked in and the goal was disallowed.
In the final minutes, Favreau-Ward was peppered with shots. She faced 17 in the final frame, by far the most of any period. All in all, her team was outshot 38-19 and Favreau-Ward got her team to overtime.
“Kali had a stellar performance, she comes up big for us,” said Campbell. “For being a first-year goalie, it’s incredible, it really is. She puts in so much work – in practices she’s going 150%, she’s doing clinics outside of practice, we have a goalie coach who comes in and works with her also. She’s putting in the work to improve and she cares about the team, she cares about winning and you can tell.”
The final shot to slip into the MVU net in regulation was an unfortunate one. A lackluster effort from the blue line took an awkward hop along the way and slipped by Favreau-Ward, knotting the score at 5-5 with just 1:29 left in regulation.
Schreindorfer had a good look saved a minute into the extra period, but no one was around to go for the rebound. Guyette slid to stop a shot at the other end but the rebound was collected by Alyssa Sicely, who used a nice fake and a high shot to end the game 2:25 into overtime.
Tough finish aside, Campbell saw plenty of good from her team on Wednesday and pointed out a pair of key players who are making significant contributions.
“Haley Stefaniak, I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s playing D for us, playing forward for us, and I mean in the same game,” Campbell said. “She doesn’t care, she’ll go out there and bust her butt. She’s getting shots on net, she’s hustling back and breaking up the other team’s shots. She’s a great leader, a great captain.”
“Kayden Lapan, she got her first varsity goal last game, she stepped it up. You can tell that was really an accomplishment for her, even just her aggression and her puck battling on the boards from the last game is a lot better.”
MVU returns to action Saturday, hosting Hartford.
