Surge in third period solidifies girl's hockey victory for Cheverus/Windham/Medomak

By Matt Pascarella

The Cheverus/Windham/Medomak girls’ hockey team added another win to an impressive season when a third-period surge resulted in multiple goals. Its game against Saint Dominic Academy ended in a 4-0 shutout victory on Saturday, Dec. 28 at the William B. Troubh Ice Arena in Portland.

Windham freshman Taylor Lucas keeps her eyes on the puck
during a girls' prep ice hockey game against Saint Dominick
Academy on Saturday, Dec. 28 at William B. Troubh Ice
Arena in Portland. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA 

"We weren’t playing with a lot of a passion and energy (early on),” said Cheverus/Windham/Medomak coach Scott Rousseau. “I thought we played very well in the second period, especially the last seven, eight minutes; our younger forwards started getting more involved in the forward check, we were getting really close to the net, we were missing or (shots were blocked). I thought we showed a lot of resolve to stay patient and stay with it and we got a break with the power play and that relaxed everybody a little bit and took a comfortable lead from there. In the long run, I think it’ll be a good experience for us to feel some tension and anxiety and be comfortable winning 1-0. We need to rely on our younger, inexperienced players to get that experience and start wanting the puck and make those plays. We’re going to have to play low scoring, tight-checking games and be comfortable with that; at the end, I thought we’ll take that learning experience and keep moving forward.”

Cheverus/Windham/Medomak came out a little slow in the first period, but had stellar defense, with multiple shots on goal. Roughly seven minutes into the first period, Cheverus sophomore Caroline Rousseau scored, assisted by Cheverus junior Joey Pompeo.

While the second period was scoreless, Cheverus/Windham/Medomak’s intensity picked up as they continued to give Saint Dominic Academy’s goalie a workout. Cheverus/Windham/Medomak commanded the ice. Their defense remained strong.

In the third period, Cheverus/Windham/Medomak really turned up the intensity. Seven minutes into the period, Cheverus senior Lucy Johnson scored, assisted by Cheverus senior Zoey Radford. With two minutes remaining Caroline Rousseau scored again, assisted by Windham junior Ashley Cloutier. Windham freshman Taylor Lucas scored, assisted by Caroline Rousseau with less than 15 seconds remaining to end the game on a high note.

“It was a really great pass from Caroline; I was there in the right spot in the right time,” said Lucas. “Despite not playing as well as we wanted to in the first ... we were able to pull together as a team and play really well in the second and third. I feel like we got more energy going on the bench and just brought ourselves together. In the second and the third periods we did really well at passing. I feel like in this game we should’ve come out stronger in the first period, but overall, we did really well.”

Windham junior Ashley Cloutier said the team had good teamwork toward the end, but they need to get that going earlier in the game. It was a spark inside them that got them to work together to score multiple goals in the third period.

“We started pretty slow, but after a while our defense started making quicker passes and quicker decisions and our forwards started getting involved in the cycle game,” said Caroline Rousseau. “We wore the Saint Dom’s players out and I think it just took us a second, but once we got it going, we started making quicker decisions and started moving our feet a bit quicker and got our head in the right space. We definitely started passing more ... all of our goals in the third came off passes with a quick release. Making those quick decisions, making the pass without holding on too long really helped us.” <