FALMOUTH — Greely scored on its first shot on goal in Saturday’s North regional girls’ hockey semifinal. Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland spent the rest of the game chasing the Rangers, but to no avail. Top-seeded Greely skated to a 5-1 victory at Family Ice Center to advance to the regional final.
Emillee McGillicuddy corralled a loose puck in front of the Red Hornets net just over three minutes into the game, then fired it into the net on the game’s first shot.
Greely doubled its lead with just over five minutes left in the first period. Ellie Schad kept the puck in the attacking zone, then skated around the left circle — and around a Red Hornet defender — before beating goalie Sarah Hammond.
The fourth-seeded Red Hornets found some momentum late in the frame, with Haley Frolich getting the best chance for the visitors. But Rangers goalie Nica Todd was up to the task, stopping Frolich’s breakaway attempt with just over two minutes left in the first.
“That could have been a real different game in a hurry,” Greely coach Nate Guerin said. “And they’re such an emotional team, and if you let them grab some momentum you better hang on, or you better be able to match it.”
The visitors looked to keep the momentum going after the between-periods timeout, but a pair of Red Hornet penalties aided Greely in getting its third goal of the game early in the second period. Danita Storey won the puck in a scrum behind the net, then brought it out in front before sniping a shot into the top-right corner of the goal with the Rangers on a two-man advantage.
“We’ve been working on the power play quite a bit, and we know that’s a great chance for us,” Guerin said.
Greely made it 4-0 less than three minutes later, with Courtney Sullivan presented a wide-open net after a deflection moved Hammond out of the way. The Rangers’ star sophomore forward didn’t miss.
Red Hornets coach Shon Collins called a timeout at that point, with the hosts pulling farther away.
“Just to kind of settle them down. Remind them, ‘Look, the game’s half over,'” Collins said. “I thought we looked dejected, our heads down. I think we needed to get back into the frame of mind of ‘you know what, let’s put everything out on the ice and see what happens,’ and I thought we did that.”
The words from the bench didn’t pay immediate dividends on the ice, but the Red Hornets found some solace going into the locker room after the second period, scoring their lone goal just seconds before the horn. Mariah Vaillancourt drew in a defender to the right of the goal, then found Madi DeRosa at the left post to beat Todd for the first and only time on the night.
“It was a real nice play,” Collins said. “I was happy with that.”
The Red Hornets had a chance to continue gaining steam at the start of the third period. Greely was called for a delay of game penalty before the opening faceoff, but the Red Hornets failed to put a shot on net, missing wide on a pair of chances and missing out on a last-gasp opportunity to kickstart any comeback.
The Rangers then put the game away at the midway point of the final period. Bridget Roberts slithered through the offensive zone before slapping a back-hander from the slot past Hammond.
“I think we know that we have more, but I was really impressed with how everyone played,” Guerin said. “I thought a lot of girls had a lot of positives. A couple girls had really nice games.”
Guerin singled out Schad, McGillicuddy and Todd for their efforts.
The Greely coach also tipped his cap to the Red Hornets for playing his team tough three times this season — 5-2 and 3-1 contests during the regular season, and Saturday’s playoff meeting.
“Probably consistently they’re the hardest-working team that we play, I would say, for probably the past five or six years,” Guerin said. “It’s always close. It’s two good teams, and they both really want to beat each other.”
“Despite what the score might show, I don’t think Greely would say that was an easy game for them to win,” said Collins, who saw enough from his team to call this season a successful one.
“I’m still thrilled with the way the girls fought throughout the game. We didn’t stop skating and playing.”
The Red Hornets finish their season with a 9-8-3 record. The 19-0 Rangers continue on to the North regional final, where they will face No. 2 St. Dom’s on Wednesday in Lewiston.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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