First-period surge helps Mount to game one win over Lady Titans

Eric Rueb
Posted 3/17/15

When the DeCosta Division Tournament championship series is finally over, the Warwick Co-op girls’ hockey team is either going to remember Game one as the wake-up call that inspired a title run or …

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First-period surge helps Mount to game one win over Lady Titans

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When the DeCosta Division Tournament championship series is finally over, the Warwick Co-op girls’ hockey team is either going to remember Game one as the wake-up call that inspired a title run or a night a title slipped away.

Friday’s 4-2 loss to Mount St. Charles at Brown University’s Meehan Auditorium really enforced the old adage that regular season results are meaningless when it comes to the postseason, because the Lady Titans that crushed the Mounties by a combined 11-3 weren’t on the ice until the game was well in hand.

“The hype of the game really got us,” Warwick’s Abi Given said. “We were all excited to come into this and win and do a really good job. Once we got here and the pressure was on, it all got on us and all the things we did were stupid mistakes.”

“They deserved to win the game,” Warwick coach David Tibbetts said. “Overall, they played better than we did.”

“This game we weren’t coming at them,” Warwick’s Savannah Hersey said, “as strong as we could have.”

The series is a best-of-three and following a win Saturday to even things up, Warwick played Game three Monday night (results unavailable at press time), a game hardly expected coming into the series, but a game the Lady Titans were more than willing to play even after they stepped off the ice Friday night.

“I’m so ready,” Given said. “I would go so hard right now.”

The two regular-season meetings gave no indication Mount even had a chance Friday night. Warwick beat the Mounties 5-1 on Dec. 19 and 6-2 on Feb. 28. A four-goal difference isn’t exactly easy to make up, but if a team takes advantage of opportunities, it can happen before the opposition has a chance to cut an edge in the ice.

Tied at 1 with 2:30 left in the first period, an interference penalty on Hersey put Mount on the power play and the Mounties were more than happy to convert 1:12 later. Thirty-three seconds after the goal, Warwick’s Kelsey Holmes got hit with a holding penalty and 10 seconds later, Mount made it 3-1 with 35 seconds left in the period.

“The point of the penalty kill is just to get the puck up the ice. For some reason we weren’t doing that,” Given said. “We all kind of got jittery.”

It was fast and furious and too much to overcome. In less than two minutes, Warwick went from the favorite to playing catch-up and for the first time against the Mounties, the Lady Titans didn’t have any sort of response.

“Everything changes in the playoffs,” Tibbetts said. “We weren’t looking at what happens in the past and we told the kids it has absolutely no bearing as to the future. They were ready.”

“Everybody was getting down because we didn’t expect to be down and we were missing passes and weren’t playing as good as we normally do,” Hersey said.

“In the back of our heads we all knew we could come through with it, but the way everyone reacted to it wasn’t the way we should have,” Given said. “I think it affected all of us.”

The end of the first period made it easy to forget about the start of the game. Warwick was in control on its offensive end and, even without sneaking one past Mount keeper Taylor Dill, there was no reason to worry. Warwick had plenty of looks, plenty of possession time and Mount was barely clearing the puck.

And then it did. Mount’s Kylie Fitzgerald broke up the right side, drawing Warwick keeper Erin Vermilye over. Fitzgerald fired a perfect pass to the weak-side, right on the stick of Shannon McDermott and no one slid to help Vermilye out, as Mount took a 1-0 lead.

It was short-lived, or as short-lived as can be in hockey. Warwick continued its offensive pressure and finally broke through when Given scored, assisted by Holmes and Natasha Savage, with 6:06 left in the first.

While Mount controlled the game in the second and most of the third, it did so by sitting back and playing defense, similar to a soccer team up one with minutes left. There was no need for the Mounties to go on the attack and leave itself susceptible to an offensive breakaway.

“They were trapping us and keeping us out of the zone,” Tibbetts said. “They were just kind of dumping it up a lot. They did a good job.”

It wasn’t until the desperation of the moment – and another Mount goal – hit that Warwick realized finishing flat on Friday might not bode well for its chances Saturday.

Holmes scored with 2:42 left and the attacks toward the end were knocked away by Dill or missed the mark entirely, but that final three minutes set the tone for what Warwick was out to prove.

“Now we know we have to play like we did the last three minutes and go as hard as we can,” Hersey said, “because we want to play on Monday.”

“We always play better with a chip on our shoulder,” Tibbetts said.

“When our backs are against the wall, we’re ready to come back. We don’t want to lose. It could be my last game and I don’t want to lose,” Hersey said. “I want another state championship.”

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