Lady Raiders Fall to Arlington in Overtime

It was an emotional night at the Ed Burns Arena for the Arlington High School girls’ hockey team and the entire Arlington hockey community as they mourned the loss of senior captain Kristin McKenzie’s father Darren prior to facing off with in the opening round of the MIAA state tournament.

Darren was a fixture in the Arlington sports community, and specifically at the Ed Burns Arena, so with his passing fresh on everyone’s minds, it was a wonder how the girls would be able to focus on the task at hand.

After the pre-game moment of silence, there was a playoff game at hand, and what unfolded was a thrilling, back-and-forth hockey game that could not be decided in regulation.

“That was really a great game, I think both teams played exceptionally well,” said Barnstable head coach Jeff Sollows. “They definitely had the advantage on us in play, but we kept fighting and kept fighting, so I’m proud of how the girls battled.”

It took nearly two full periods for a goal to be scored, as Arlington really took the play to the visitors from the Cape, firing shot after shot at the Raider net. They out shot Barnstable 12-1 after the first period, and 25-6 through two periods. BHS sophomore goalie Carly Spalt did her best impression of a brick wall, however, thwarting all of the Ponders scoring chances through two periods, making 25 saves.

Seemingly fueled by the strong play of their goaltender, the Raiders refused to succomb to their role as the underdogs and capitalized on a late second period powerplay. Junior Kelsey Corbett slammed home a rebound to put Barnstable up 1-0, and that was how things stood at the second intermission.

“Obviously they’re a really well coached team, and their goaltender was obviously very strong tonight, but I also thought they played really well in front of her,” said Arlington head coach Jeff Mead. “I told them going into the third not to get down, that they were dominating and they just had to keep doing what they were doing.”

Taking their coach’s advice, the Spy Ponders game out strong again in the third period and wasted little time in knotting the game up at one. Fittingly, it was McKenzie who created the goal, making a strong play in the offensive corner before taking the puck strong to the net. Her wrap around attempt wouldn’t go, but Shannon Hickey was there to push the puck past Spalt.

The rest of regulation exhibited some exciting back-and-forth play, and both Spalt and AHS goaltender Casey Schaejbe put on a show, making a number of highlight reel saves to keep the score tied at one.

The game had to be decided with overtime as neither team was able to break the tie in regulation. Both teams had some prime chances to end the game, but at the 8:28 mark it was Arlington’s senior captain Kasi Murphy who sent the home crowd into a frenzy when she beat Spalt with a glove-side wrist shot to give the Spy Ponders the 2-1 win. Once again McKenzie figured in on the goal with her second assist of the night.

“It’s been a tough week for us, obviously, with everything that’s gone on,” Mead said. “You have to give credit to Barnstable too, because they played really hard, but we’re definitely happy with the outcome and can now start focusing on the next one.”