AUBURN — Kylie Boardman had her version of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick in Winslow/Gardiner/Messalonskee/Erskine/Lawrence/Mt. Blue/Maranacook/Cony’s 10-2 girls hockey victory over Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland on Saturday at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Boardman tallied a goal and an assist, but instead of fighting — the third component of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick — she did quite the opposite: she helped an injured Red Hornets player to the bench.
Late in the first period, Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Kylee Spugnardi crashed into the boards near the Red Hornets’ offensive blue line. Boardman, on a line change, darted to the opposite side of the ice, instead of jumping into the play in the Black Tigers’ offensive zone, to help Spugnardi — who was struggling to get to her feet. Boardman grabbed Spugnardi by the arm and helped her skate to the Edward Little bench, where assistant coach Anne McIntire was waiting to open the door for Spugnardi. Then Boardman returned to the action on the ice.
Thank you for recognizing this moment. pic.twitter.com/3eIzvAKNP9
— Bill Boardman (@Bill_Boardman) November 27, 2022
“I am a very injury-prone person, and I have been in that spot many times,” Boardman said. “Seeing someone down like that, it’s way more important than a game, a puck, or a goal. If they scored, I wouldn’t even care. I wanted to make sure she was safe and getting attended to. There was no thought in my mind.”
After the game, Bill Boardman, the Black Tigers’ coach and Kylie Boardman’s father, expressed pride in his daughter’s actions.
“That was important as anything in this game, when one of our players does something like that,” Bill Boardman said. “Certainly, it was a class move and I am proud she’s my kid.”
Red Hornets coach Dan Berube said he missed the sequence but isn’t surprised to see this type of sportsmanship.
“That’s something you always see in girls ice hockey — there’s concern,” Berube said. “I know when (the Black Tigers) had a player go down, I looked up and three of our players took a knee right away.”
Alyssa Prosser opened the scoring and gave the Red Hornets (0-1) a 1-0 lead 3:35 into the first period. She kept the puck inside the Edward Little offensive zone and skated behind the Black Tigers’ net and beat Winslow goalie Emma Michaud (seven saves) with a wrap-around shot
“Alyssa, she’s a heck of a player,” Berube said. “She proved that again tonight. We have three girls returning to our team that have regular varsity experience, so we are young and we are learning as we go. Tonight was another good learning experience for us.”
Kylie Boardman scored nearly six minutes into the opening period from the high slot to tie the game up at 1-1.
“It really helped the momentum shift go the right way, the direction that we needed it to,” Kylie Boardman said of her goal.
Midway through the first period, Madison McSweeney gave the Black Tigers a 2-1 advantage by beating Red Hornets goalie Emily Quinell (11 saves). Kate Nichols and Boardman had the assists.
Freshman Kate Berard gave the Black Tigers (1-0) a 3-1 lead in the final minute of the first period.
Berard led the Black Tigers with two goals and two assists.
“It was really exciting. It’s a great group of girls to play with, and overall, I thought it a real fun way to start the season,” Berard said.
After the Red Hornets killed off a penalty in the second period, Nichols received a pass from Abigail Allen on a 2-on-1 then tapped home the puck on the right side of the crease for a 4-1 lead.
Berard notched her second goal when she put home a rebound at the doorstep of the crease 10:18 into the second to pull ahead 5-1.
Prosser scored her second of the game in the first minute of the third period, cutting the deficit 5-2.
“The first of the third period, we had some good pressure,” Berube said. “I thought our best pressure of the game; we were in their zone a little bit — Alyssa got another one there. Honestly, I think we ran out of gas in the third.”
Molly Hambrick, one of the two Mt. Blue players on the roster — along with defender Leah Michaud — and McSweeney scored 33 seconds apart later in the third period, giving the Black Tigers a 7-2 advantage.
“They have shown they can move the puck,” Bill Boardman said Hambrick and Leah Michaud. “They are smart hockey players and have good hockey IQ. They will certainly help the rest of their teammates be better.”
Leah Michaud and Reagan Sacre scored power-play tallies to stretch the Black Tigers’ advantage to 9-2.
Freshmen Zoey Gilbert capped the scoring on her first career shift.
The final three goals came in the final two minutes of the game
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