This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
02/20/2019 11:00 PMThe 2018-’19 edition of the Amity-North Haven-Cheshire (A-NH-C) girls’ ice hockey team serves as a prime example of how perseverance pays off in sports. A couple of months ago, the Blades were struggling through a slow start that saw the club lose its first seven games of its campaign. However, the Blades stayed strong, never lost faith, and embarked on midseason surge that carried them all the way to a conference crown.
A-NH-C was a red-hot squad coming down the stretch of the regular season and rode that momentum into the Southern Connecticut Conference South Division Tournament, where the Blades claimed the SCC title by beating three teams that had defeated them earlier in the year. A-NH-C earned a 6-3 win versus Guilford in the first round and followed that up with 5-2 victory against Hamden in the semifinals. Then on Feb. 22, the Blades capped off their magical run by rallying for a 4-3 win over familiar foe West Haven-Sacred Heart Academy (WH-SHA) in the championship game at Bennett Rink.
“It’s unbelievable. When the buzzer went off and we won, the feeling in my stomach was insane. There was so much energy,” said senior captain left wing Shannon Reilly. “It was the best feeling I’ve ever felt, and I don’t think I could be any prouder of my team. From where we came from, it’s amazing.”
The Blades trailed WH-SHA three times in the conference final and were facing a 3-2 deficit entering the third period. Junior Tess Csejka scored two goals during the final frame, including the go-ahead score that gave the Blades a 4-3 lead with just 3:30 remaining. Csejka recorded a hat trick in the victory. Senior Hannah Sosensky scored the other goal for A-NH-C, while senior captain Meghan Hogan had two assists. Senior goalkeeper Caitlin Ranciato, who only started playing hockey this year, made 24 saves to get the win in net.
The No. 3 seed Blades improved to 12-10-1 with their victory over top-seeded WH-SHA. Head Coach John Peschell’s team, which has won 12 of its last 16 games, opened up the State Tournament on Feb. 26 (after press time).
“This team has tremendous character. It’s all heart and desire and just a love for the game,” Peschell said. “They never gave up. Once the wins started coming, we just got on a roll. It’s crazy. I’ve never been through a season like this. I can’t imagine that many people have.”
WH-SHA scored the first goal just 26 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead in the SCC South Division final. A-NH-C responded when Cjseka netted her first goal of the night on the power play to make it a 1-1 game 3:06 into the opening period. Junior Haley Cable had the assist on the goal. The Sharks scored a goal with only four seconds left in the first to take a 2-1 lead into the second.
In the second period, Sosensky scored from sophomore Caroline Cadelina to tie the game at 2-2 just 3:19 into the frame. With 5:32 to play, WH-SHA scored a power-play goal to take a 3-2 lead that held up going into the third.
Just 1:13 into the third period, Csejka scored her second power-play goal of the game on an assist from Hogan to knot the score at 3-3. The game stayed tied there was just 3:30 remaining, when Csejka found the back of the net for the third time to solidify her hat trick and give the Blades a lead they wouldn’t relinquish on their way to a 4-3 victory and the conference crown. Hogan and fellow senior captain Andrea DelVecchio assisted on the go-ahead goal.
One of the most pivotal stretches of the game came when the score was tied at 3 with about seven minutes remaining. A-NH-C took consecutive penalties and had to play at a 5-on-3 disadvantage for the next 1:26. However, the Blades kept WH-SHA off the board and, shortly after two teams were back at even strength, Csejka netted the game-winner.
“That was the most stressful two minutes of my life,” said Reilly, who was on the ice for the penalty kill. “We made sure they didn’t get any points off it and, once we were able to kill it off, we had so much energy on the bench that we knew it would happen.”
The Blades have now won the SCC title two times their program’s history; this marked their third appearance in an SCC final. In 2016, the Blades notched a 2-1 victory versus WH-SHA in the championship of the SCC Division II Tournament. The following year, they took a 4-1 loss to WH-SHA in the SCC Division II final.
A-NH-C had taken two defeats against the Sharks during the recent regular season, losing by a 9-2 score in a home game on Dec. 19 and by a 5-1 final on the road on Jan. 29. However, when the conference title was on the line, the Blades raised their game and defeated WH-SHA when it mattered most.
“The biggest factor was their hustle. They really wanted it. They worked really hard, and they wanted it,” Coach Peschell said. “You could see it in their faces. They dug a little bit deeper. They just wanted it a little bit more.”
Ranciato said that it took some time for the Blades to find their footing after entering the campaign with several new players taking on prominent roles, herself included. The first-year goalie felt pleased to her team develop a concrete chemistry that propelled the Blades to the top of their conference.
“A lot of it was team chemistry. At the beginning, we didn’t know each other that well and had a lot of people who hadn’t played together or at all. But then we clicked and started coming together as a team,” said Ranciato. “It makes it really special that we came from the bottom. Nobody thought we would win SCCs, but it was nice for all of us to win. We all had a lot of adrenaline pumping through us.”
Earlier in the Tourney
The Blades opened up the SCC South Division Tournament by notching a 5-3 win over No. 6 seed Guilford in a first-round game on their home ice at Lou Astorino Ice Arena on Feb. 18. Cable got the Blades on the board when she scored a goal on an assist from DelVecchio for a 1-0 lead in the first period. Later in the frame, DelVecchio scored from Cable and Cadelina to make it 2-0. Guilford scored a goal before the period was finished to cut it to 2-1 through one.
In the second period, Cadelina scored from Csjeka to give A-NH-C a 3-1 lead heading into the final stanza. Guilford scored a goal to make it 3-2, but Reilly netted an insurance goal on a DelVecchio assist to increase to Blades’ lead to 4-2. Cadelina added her second goal of the game to give the Blades a three-goal cushion, before Guilford scored the last goal of the afternoon for the 5-3 final. Ranciato made 24 saves for A-NH-C. The two teams had split their regular season series with the Blades taking a 4-3 road loss to Guilford on Dec. 15 and then defeating the Indians by a 7-2 score at home on Jan. 26.
Then on Feb. 20, A-NH-C went up against No. 2 seed Hamden in the SCC semifinals and defeated the host Green Dragons 5-2 at Lou Astorino Ice Arena. Cable had a hat trick for the Blades, while Reilly handed out two assists. Csjeka scored from Hogan to put the Blades up 1-0 just 4:23 into the contest. Six minutes later, Cable scored from DelVecchio to give the Blades a 2-0 lead that they took into the second period. Hamden scored the only goal of the second with 57 seconds remaining to make it 2-1 going into the third.
Five minutes into the third period, Cable scored from Hogan to give the Blades a 3-1 advantage. After Hamden cut it to 3-2 with 9:11 to play, the Blades posted the final two goals of the game to solidify the victory. First, DelVecchio scored from Cable and Reilly to give A-NH-C a 4-2 lead with 6:47 remaining. Cable then earned her hat trick by scoring her third goal on an empty-netter with 25 seconds on the clock. Csjeka and Reilly had the assists on the goal. Ranciato picked up the win in net.
The victory marked the Blades’ first against Hamden in the three games that the teams played this year. During the regular season, A-NH-C took a 5-4 loss at Hamden on Jan. 12 and then battled the Green Dragons to a 3-3 draw in a home game on Feb. 13. With this win, the Blades gained a measure of revenge against Hamden after having taken a 3-2 loss in double overtime to the Green Dragons in the semifinals of last season’s SCC South Division Tournament.
With the SCC title solidified, the next stop for the Blades is states. A-NH-C is the No. 12 seed in the State Tournament and played No. 5 seed Simsbury in a first-round game at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury on Feb. 26 (after press time). With a win, the Blades would face No. 4 seed Hall-Conard in the quarterfinals at Veterans Rink in West Hartford on Saturday, March 2 at 1:10 p.m. The semis take place at The Rinks at Shelton on Wednesday, March 6, and the state final is at Bennett Rink in West Haven at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 9.
From the Sidelines
The Amity-North Haven-Cheshire girls’ ice hockey squad’s roster features senior captains Andrea DelVecchio (Amity), Meaghan Hogan (Cheshire), and Shannon Reilly (North Haven); fellow seniors Caitlin Ranciato (North Haven), Hannah Sosensky (Amity), and Katie St. Peter (North Haven); juniors Tess Csekja (Amity), Sara Cable (Amity), Nadia DiNatale (Cheshire), and Haley Cable (Amity); sophomores Olivea Kosh (Amity), Megan Crowley (Cheshire), Caroline Cadelina (Amity), and Kelsey McCarthy (North Haven); and freshmen Ilana Leyner (Amity), Jade Krukar (Amity), Paige Kergaravat (Amity), Mia Dow (Amity), and Carsyn Rizzuzi (Amity).
John Peschell is in his third year as head coach of the Blades and is assisted by Scott Whyte.
During the regular season, the Blades claimed two victories over Branford-North Haven-Sheehan-Lyman Hall (8-3 and 5-2), Hand-Coginchaug-Old Lyme (5-4 and 6-1), Masuk-Barlow-Newtown-Lauralton Hall (7-4 and 6-0), along with one win apiece versus Notre Dame-Fairfield/Law/Foran/Weston/Pomperaug (6-4), Guilford (7-2), and Northwest-Catholic Mercy (12-6). They also earned a 3-3 tie versus Hamden.