Green Eagles girls hockey team scores impressive win
SJC beats NPC in final game before exam break
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The final scoreline will show St. John’s College beating North Park Collegiate 8-1 on Wednesday at the Gretzky Centre in AABHN girls hockey action but it was something other than the offensive output that impressed the Green Eagles coaches.
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Improving to 4-3 on the season, SJC coach Andrina Shannelly said the players on the team returned to something they’ll need to do to be successful going forward.
“We were really happy with the girls because they kind of fell back into the habit of passing the puck, which is fantastic,” Shannelly said.
“And this was the first time in a few games we’ve had our entire team so that was a bonus.”
St. John’s had a strong start to the season with two straight wins. However, the Green Eagles then dropped three games before winning their next two.
Early on, SJC showed it can challenge the league’s top teams when it was beaten 3-2 by Brantford Collegiate Institute on Dec. 18. BCI is tied for first.
“I‘m happy with the season,” said Shannelly.
“We’ve had some really good games and there are teams that we can compete against, we just haven’t shown up the way we need to.
“Hopefully over the last part of the season we can give Assumption and Paris a run.”
The Eagles have key games remaining against Assumption College and Paris District High School, which SJC beat 6-1 back on Dec. 6.
“I think we can compete with those teams,” Shannelly said, noting that she doesn’t think Paris had its full lineup in the 6-1 game.
“I think our forwards and our defence do a really good job, we just need to support our goalie.”
Going forward, it will come down to confidence for the Green Eagles.
“It’s about not quitting,” said Shannelly.
“We need to not give up on ourselves. We’re a really good team with a lot of talent on our team, and young talent.
“They need to understand it’s a long game and there’s a lot of time to keep going. We need to keep the positivity up.”
In the game against the Trojans (2-7), SJC took a 4-0 first-period lead.
Following a goal from Emma Battler, the Eagles doubled their advantage when Gwen Brown scored on a breakaway.
Reese McKellar and Alexia Karmiris then potted goals to make it 4-0.
Eagles goalie Spirit Wickson made a great save on Dawn Simon late in the first before SJC increased its lead to 6-0 in the second on goals from Battler and Karmiris.
In the North Park goal, Kimberlee Nicholson continued her impressive season. Never donning the pads before this year, Nicholson made some solid saves to keep the score from reaching double digits.
Kayden Kotyck and Joey Gamble combined for an early scoring chance in the third for the Trojans but Wickson made the save. Shortly after that, NPC broke the shutout when Simon scored with an assist to Niobe Hare.
Morgan McKeraghan and Karmiris, with her hat-trick goal, rounded out the scoring for SJC.
McKeraghan got three assists for the Green Eagles, Olivia Bullock and Abby Miller got two apiece with one each to Audrey MacKinnon, Olivia McNaught, Hadley Shannon and Brown.
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