Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Five different Golden Hawks shooters found the back of the net to help NDSS to repeat as KASSAA champions with a 5-2 win over the Frontenac Falcons on Wednesday at Kingston’s Invista Centre.
Despite the final score, the game saw its share of tense moments down the stretch as the Falcons clawed their way back to a 3-2 deficit midway through the third. A late goal followed by an empty-netter helped to seal the win for Napanee.
Napanee’s Rachel Foster opened the scoring with a shot through traffic that made its way to the back of the net. Maddy Cronkwright and Taylor Gilmour picked up assists.
The early goal was a departure from typical KASSAA finals of previous years, where goals tend to be hard to come by in the early going.
“To get that early lead, it let us stick with it,” said Hawks coach Chad Miller. “It’s easy to get frustrated but all of a sudden you have some success early in the game and it keeps everyone’s head up.”
Hawks captain Maddi Wheeler doubled the lead late in the first with a break away, unassisted goal.
NDSS Lila Pringle slides the puck passed the Frontenac Falcons goalie to put her team up 3-0 in Wednesday’s KASSAA final. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Napanee continued to pour it on in the second when Lila Pringle took a pass in front and tucked the puck around the Falcons’ goalie for what would hold up as the eventual game winner. Cronkwright drew the assist.
Just when it seemed the Hawks were going to run away with the game, the Falcons broke through with a goal late in the second.
Penalty trouble caught up with Napanee in the third when Frontenac picked up a power-play goal with seven minutes left in regulation. That cut Napanee’s lead to 3-2 and made for a nervous finish.
Hawks captain Maddi Wheeler had a goal and an assist. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Gilmour allowed the bench to breath a huge sigh of relief with a goal three and a half minutes later with help from Wheeler.
Cronkwright iced the victory with a short-handed empty net goal with just 21 seconds left to play.
“We have super stars on the team but we don’t have selfish super stars,” said Miller. “It’s not all about them scoring the goal. They’ve got a team goal in mind and they don’t care who shoots it in the net.”
NDSS’ Nikki Weese and Rachel Foster double team a Frontenac puck carrier in front of the Hawks net. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
That depth allowed them to go 5-1-1 in the regulation season, which was second in the league. They went on to win three straight playoff games en route to repeating as KASSAA champions.
“Unlike other years we’ve got four or five scorers that can score every game,” said Hawks coach Matt Campeau. “We’ve got two scoring lines, in the past we’ve had two scoring lines. The kid that scored the winner is a Grade 9.”
As strong as the offense was, NDSS still needed solid goaltending in the third period in particular as the contest evolved into a one-shot game.
“Makenna Marlow made a bunch of saves,” said Campeau. “That’s a kid that’s lost one game in two years. She’s been solid for us every game she’s played.”
Napanee will now get set to compete as the host team of Tuesday’s AA EOSSAA at the Strathcona Paper Centre. A strong showing there would qualify them for OFSSAA.