Red Team-Cornwall Typhoons Tournament Oct 19-21, 2007

The NAHA Red team capped off a great weekend of play in their first regular season tournament with a hard fought 2-0 win over Lac St. Louis from Quebec. The team continued to refine their game throughout the weekend and play well in numerous aspects of team play. They started out with two offensive bursts with 6 goal games against Lac St. Louis 6-3, and 6-2 over the host Cornwall team. In the opener vs a strong skating Lac St Louis team the team was led by forward Julie Ingratta who registered a hat trick scoring the first, third and fourth goal for the Winter Hawks. The junior from Markham, Ontario would continue to be a goal scoring force throughout the weekend. Also scoring for the Reds was Kayla Parsons (Fairbanks, Ak), Lauren Jones (Bloomington, IL.) and Rose Giarrusso (Royal Palm Beach, Fl.). Chipping in with assists Melissa Bizzari (Stowe, Vt.) Randi Jensen (Davenport, IA.) Valarie Stoul (Montville, NJ.) and Kayla Parsons. The game was tied 2-2 after one period before the Reds netted two goals in the 2nd and the first in the third to break the game open. Kelsey Neumann (Mooresville, NC.) was solid in the goal and help settled the defense after a first period where we allowed far too many odd man rushes.

In the second game on Friday vs. Cornwall the Winter Hawks had six different scorers find the back of the net hopefully previewing the type of balanced scoring that should serve the team well all season. Rose Giarrusso (opened the scoring with Katie Kleinendorst (No. Andover, Ma) and Melissa Bizzari chipping in with helpers. Lauren Jones started a 5 goal third period explosion with Nona Letuligasenoa (Fairbanks, Ak.) and Valarie Stoul assisting. Margaret McNamarra then broke a 2-2 tie scoring the first of 4 straight NAHA tallies. Assisting on that goal where Jill Cardella (Rochester, NY) and Emily DesMeules ( N. Pomfet, Vt). Closing out the scoring for the Winter Hawks were Cardella, Letuligasenoa, and Bizzari. Rose Bernheim (Litchfield, Ct.) had numerous big stops to keep Cornwall from gaining any momentum offensively.

The Saturday afternoon game vs Kanata On. had the Hawks looking to insure a spot in the tournament finals the following day as a 3-0 record would put them in a position where they would be assured being seeded first as numerous other games had ended in ties. After playing a little uninspired the Reds in a scoreless first period the team then scored two goals 17 seconds apart early in the 2nd to take control of the contest. Lauren Jones got things started when she fired a blistering snap shot after stealing a puck in the neutral zone. Less than a minute later Emily DesMeules ripped a high shot from the point to notch her first goal in a NAHA uniform. The game stayed at that score until Julie Ingratta salted the game away with a wrist shot into the top corner with just under 3 minutes to go. Kelsey Neuman in the goal and a strong defense in front of her did a great job of denying Kanata any chance of getting momentum throughout the game.

The final game of the round Robin had the Winter Hawks use almost the same formula as their previous game as they topped the NCCP Capitals by the same 3-0 score. Rose Bernheim earned the shutout with strong play in goal from start to finish. The offense was started by Katie Klinendorst just 47 seconds into the game when combined with her linemates Jill Cardella and Julie Ingratta scoring on a pretty 3 on 2 attack. The score stayed that way until about 3 minutes into the second when Kelly Kitterdge fired a blast from the point to notch her first goal of the season. Kelly’s goal had Randi Jensen setting her up with a pretty D to D pass before the shot. Rose Giarrusso also picked up an assist on the play. Lauren Jones finished out the scoring early in the third period with Melissa Bizzari and Marium Drubel adding assists.

The Tournament finals vs. Lac St. Louis was a much different affair than their opening game with the same team as the teams earlier offensive outburst had their opponent playing a much more defensive game. The teams played a scoreless first period with both goaltenders standing tall. Julie Ingratta opened the scoring for NAHA 2;15 into the second period when she took a feed from Katie Kleinendorst and fired a low backhand through the five hole. The Winter Hawks play picked up at that point and had numerous chances and just misses for much of the remaining 2nd and third period. Not capitalizing on those chances seemed to give their opponent hope and they mounted their best offense in the games final minutes. Kelsey Neumann in goal was the difference though as she had numerous big stops down the stretch. As the clock ticked down Jill Cardella iced the game when she fired into an open net with one second on the clock. The team worked hard all weekend and seemed to get better and better with their team play throughout. Kayla Parsons was recognized as the tournament MVP for her strong defensive and offensive play all weekend. Kayla was especially strong on the penalty kill.