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When your only negative on the list of the season’s pros and cons is not winning the state regional tournament, you’ve had one heck of an inaugural year.
That’s the situation the Adirondack United girls’ ice hockey team finds itself in as it starts the offseason and reflects on its journey as Section II’s first interscholastic girls’ ice hockey team.
“It really was a great year,” head coach Jeff Willis said. “We played the last day of the season. We finished with the best record in the state [19-2], we just happened to lose the last game.”
Adirondack — composed of 30 girls from the Saratoga Springs, Corinth, South Glens Falls, Glens Falls, Queensbury and Hudson Falls school districts — beat Canton 4-1 in the state regional semifinals on Friday, then lost to Clinton 2-1 on a late goal in the championship.
Willis said he knew what he was getting in the girls who came from the 19U and 16U Northstars club team, but what helped the team was the quality he got from girls who played on its 14U team.
“They’re further down the development curve than the other girls, but they really rose to the occasion,” Willis said.
Willis mentioned such players as Emily Macaulay, Gianna Marcantonio, Alle Webb, Aubrey Lozier and Alyssa Temple as being key underclassmen contributors.
Still, there were moments of wide eyes, even in the Canton semifinal, but not so in the championship with Clinton, in which Adirondack put 26 shots on Clinton goalie Casey Clausen.
“I was surprised we dominated the second and third periods as much as we did, but Casey Clausen was unbelievable,” Willis said.
The team was led in scoring by juniors Bayley Duffy, from Queensbury, with 34 goals and 32 assists, and Lillian Willis, from South Glens Falls, with 21 goals and 24 assists. Marcantonio and Macaulay had 17 and 14 goals, respectively, while Tekla Fine-Lease added eight goals and 17 assists. Ava Reynolds, also a junior from South Glens Falls, was the team’s top goaltender.
The United graduates just four players, but one of them is Danielle Hand, from Queensbury, who was a Section VII first-team all-star.
Coach Willis hopes that a big helping of success mixed with the bitter taste of ending on a loss will fuel his many returners.
“I’m hopeful they’ll put in some time over the summer to improve, and that’ll make us that much stronger next year,” he said.
Contact Will Springstead at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WLSpringstead.
Categories: -Sports-, Email Newsletter, High School Sports
