Connecticut Girls Fall 3-0 in Tier 1 19-and-Under National Championships

ROCHESTER, MI – Things can really heat up in the playoffs. And that’s exactly what happened on Saturday night in the 19-and-under girls semifinals of the USA Hockey Tier 1 2011 National Championships at the .

The Connecticut Polar Bears, which skate out of Northford Ice Pavilion, allowed three goals in a wild third period and lost 3-0 to the Detroit Little Caesars. 

In the first two periods, both teams’ goalies dominated. Tyler Fairchild had 17 saves for Little Caesars and Meghann Treacy had 22 for Connecticut. The teams went into the second intermission tied 0-0. 

“Boy, when we went back into the locker room for the intermission and our girls kind of knew they hadn’t been playing all that well and we just wanted to keep it simple,” Berger said.

Keeping it simple meant dumping the puck deep into the Polar Bears' zone and applying pressure. Little Caesars' first line didn’t waste any time in the third doing just that.

Caitlyn Post and Shiann Darkangelo set up Kelsey Summers for the first goal of the game (:29) before fans were even back in their seats from intermission. Darkangelo set up Summers with a perfectly timed pass in front of the net, and all Summers needed to do was tap it in.  

The goal seemed to take the pressure off Little Caesars' shoulders while Connecticut quickly became frustrated. The Polar Bears could not get the puck out if their zone, and when they did, the Little Caesars' defense was right there to force a turnover or block a shot.

“We got down a goal right away to start and it’s an uphill battle when you’re shorthanded,” Coach Maurice Fitzmaurice said. “What happens when you get down is people are trying to force things and make things happen. People aren’t using their head as they should.”

After the first goal, the Polar Bears committed eight penalties and allowed Little Caesars to play with a man advantage for nearly the entire period. Little Caesars had a 5-on-3 advantage three separate times.

“We played a lot of that period a man down or even two men down,” Fitzmaurice said.

Connecticut skaters did a lot of pushing and shoving on the ice, and the whistle did not do much to stop them. By the end of the third period, the Polar Bears had more penalties than shots on goal (8 to 6).

Little Caesars used the Polar Bears' lack of composure to their advantage. Caitlyn Post scored two power-play goals (5:49 and 11:50) to help seal the win. 

Fitzmaurice felt bad for his goalie Treacy. She finished the game with 39 saves, but the barrage of shots in the third quarter proved difficult to overcome, especially with the Polar Bears down a skater for most of the period.

“Megann played a great game and kept us in it for two periods, she can keep her head high,” Fitzmaurice said.

Little Caesars advanced to the finals to play Shattuck St. Mary's. St. Mary’s end up winning the 19-and-under division with a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon.

Notes - Little Caesars finished the game with a 42-23 shot advantage over Connecticut. For the tournament, Samantha Zeiss was the Polar Bears' leading scorer. She finished the National Championships with seven points (four goals and three assists). Treacy had a great overall tournament as well. The goalie only allowed nine goals on 154 shots (.942 SV%) in five games.