Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Although it required a slight detour through Cornwall, the NDSS Golden Hawks girls hockey team is headed back to OFSAA for a second straight year.
Napanee earned their spot by sweeping Monday’s EOSSAA tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, not allowing a single goal all tournament.
Napanee clashed with L’Escale out of Rockland in the finals, with the winner advancing to provincials.
The two sides were evenly matched through much of the game before NDSS’ Jaidyn Manion scored the first-and only-goal of the match with just over four minutes to go in the third. Ella Mulder assisted on the game-winner. That was all the offense NDSS goaltender Lily Reid and her defense would require as they slammed the door and earned the shutout. Going back to the KASSAA finals, Reid has allowed just one goal in her last four high school games, that lone goal a deflected one that took a wicked hop during the tough-luck loss against Holy Cross in last week’s league finals at the Invista Centre.
That loss meant the Hawks had to win Monday’s EOSSAA in order to get to OFSAA.
That translated to an early start for some Hawk players, who had to be on the road by 4 a.m. to make the trip from Napanee to Cornwall for an 8 p.m. puck drop against the host La Citadelle. About half the team was able spend the night at a nearby hotel while other players, who have commitments to other teams in the midst of their league playoffs, had to drive down early Monday morning to make the opening draw.
Sophie Fraser was able to answer the early bell, scoring Napanee’s lone goal of the game with help from Neeleigh-Ray Ford. Reid again took it from there, preserving the 1-0 shutout.
Napanee was fully awake for their next game, routing Brockville’s St. Mary’s 11-0.
Alaina Holmes netted a hat trick, Mulder and Abby Birdsell scored twice while Fraser, Sienna Eberle, Manion and Harper Ballance each had one. Reid shared net duties with Mikenna Ford for the shutout.
The EOSSAA win prolongs the Hawks season for one final tournament, OFSAA’s all-Ontarios, which will run March 19-21 in Brooklin, just outside of Whitby.