In Inaugural Year, LT Girls Hockey Club Has 21-Win Streak

The girls’ hockey club opened their 2011-2012 season with a 5-0 thumping from the Latin School of Chicago and a 6-2 loss to New Trier. After another five games, they were still below .500 at 3-4-1.

And then they never lost another game for the rest of their 28-game regular season—and won 21 straight, a streak lasting from the first of November into late January.

Not bad for a first-year team with a roster so small they required a special exemption to even play.

“We weren’t expecting to do anything this season, because we came out with nine, 10 skaters,” said Lyons senior Anya Archer. “It wasn’t supposed to be anything serious. But after a couple games, we were kind of dominating!”

In a state where hockey is not an ISHA sport even for boys, girls with the rare penchant for the puck frequently must drive exorbitant distances to play, often against boys two years their juniors. Any team’s geographical net usually must stretch wide to ensnare enough girls to put together a team that can play.

This club was no exception. Originally, it was called DGHL Ice, as players attended Downers Grove North, Glenbard East and Hinsdale Central as well as LTHS (the Hinsdale player later left the team.) The team was eventually incorporated in the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois' (AHAI) all-girls league as Lyons Township, from which half of the team’s current 10 players hail. (Teams are supposed to have 12, minimum—as a brand-new program, the club won an exemption.)

The small roster wasn’t the only question hanging over the team at the beginning. Five of its players are double-rostered with the AA/AAA travel-team Team Illinois, including All-State defenders Archer and Savannah Harmon. Two had never played the game before. The team couldn’t afford (or, with the dual-rostered girls, find time for) more than a couple cursory practices. Could an experience gap that wide be breached, or would some girls be left behind?

That, said Sunday Aiyash, president of the LT boys’ club and whose daughter Leyla plays for the team, has been just as great a success as the 21-game tear.

“These girls have welcomed everybody,” Aiyash said. “You’re watching Savannah, and she’s an amazing player, but you’d be surprised to see that girl pass the puck to somebody she knows darn well won’t be able to do as much with it. But she has the faith in them, and she gives them the opportunity.”

“The younger, less-experienced girls are looking up and they want to get better and they work as much as they can,” said team coach Shawn Harmon, Savannah’s dad. “Without the ones who don’t have as much experience, we wouldn’t be able to skate… They learn from each other, they learn from watching the games.”

Every girl on the team (except the goalie) has scored, and kept a game puck.

And even with less than two lines of players and half the team playing an exhaustive double-duty schedule, the club has flourished competitively. Harmon, a sophomore with eyes on a Division I future, led the league’s regular season in assists (24) and was second in goals (53) and points (77.) Lisa Roberts topped out goaltending charts with a whopping 94 percent save rate, allowing just a goal and a half per game. The club finished 22-4-2, tied for second of 15 teams.

Roberts is a particular testimony to devotion. The junior left her home in Cleveland this year and transferred to Downers Grove just to play hockey. She’s living with friend and teammate Savannah Harmon until June.

“It’s really fun,” said Roberts, who jokes about the private plane supposedly jetting her back to see her family on a regular basis. “I get to be independent; I don’t have to rely on people; I can make my own decisions, and it’s just nice. And I’m doing what I love!

“Back at home, I would have maybe one practice a week. Here I’m on the ice three, four days a week, sometimes every day. It’s nice, it’s exciting, and it helps [me] for college, so now I have experience and can go play somewhere and hopefully survive.”

And teammate Stephanie Wanderling—who slapped in her first-ever goal (unassisted) in a December game against Barrington, and also has three assists on the year—also had to take a plunge, in joining a hockey team for the first time.

“I’ve just been trying to convince my mom to let me play,” said the La Grange Park junior, whose only previous experience was driveway hockey. “It’s been fun just being out there with everyone who has been playing for a really long time, and who haven’t played—we all work together as a team.”

The team’s future looks strong. Coach Harmon says he already has interest from a group of eighth-graders in being part of next year’s program. The club could absorb up to six schools and 30 players—more players if they split into multiple teams. And all girls—no matter what skill level or experience—are welcome.

“Our atmosphere is more about having fun,” Harmon said.

Of course, winning is still great, especially in playoffs. Unfortunately the team’s quest for the AHAI Scholastic division’s playoff title got derailed by losses to Loyola Academy and Upper Fox Valley in a 3-2-0 playoff run not good enough to get them into the championship game.

But a second title bid awaits—the single-elimination nine-team Blackhawk Cup State Tournament, with finals held at the Blackhawks’ United Center in Chicago. LT is seeded fourth, but has shut out the three top seeds at one point in the season (and has beaten every other team in the tournament as well.) They need wins over Fenwick and then either top-seed New Trier or Barrington to get to the Center.

Either way, win or lose, the Lyons Township girls hockey club looks here to stay.

“As long as they keep coming back to the rink, then you know you’re doing the right job,” said Harmon.

(The team’s roster is: Anya Archer [Sr.], Leyla Aiyash [Sr.], Stephanie Brennan [Fr.], Stephanie Wanderling [Jr.] and Annabelle McNally [So.] from Lyons Township, Savannah Harmon [So.] and Lisa Roberts [Jr.] from Downers Grove North, and Serena Boudreau [Jr.], Melissa Boudreau [Jr.] and Melanie Torres [Jr.] from Glenbard East.)