Photo provided by Gia Fruscione
The Vail Mountaineers 12U Blue Girls won the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) state title on March 10, but not without some drama and late heroics.
“The last 90 seconds were very exciting,” coach Gia Fruscione said.
After leading the Boulder-based Lady Roughriders 1-0 for most of the game, the Mountaineers were penalized with 1:22 left in the third period. The Roughriders pulled their goaltender and Maeve Gallagher took advantage of a two-man advantage and scored the game-clinching goal with 27 ticks left.
Mountaineers coaches Eric Eiden, Paul Cada and Fruscione took a timeout to help their team rebuild.
“We've scored a lot of goals within 20 seconds,” Fruscione said. “So they knew they could do it.”
support local journalism
Katie Watts, who also scored the team's first half goal, scored again in the clutch nine seconds later.
“(She) is a key player,” Fruscione said of Watts, who scored the winning goal with 18 seconds left. “She always shows up and never gives up. Overall the front line worked together really well this year to generate goals and support each other.”
In just its second year for girls, the CAHA State Tournament consisted of the top six teams in the Colorado Girls Hockey League (CGHL) at the end of the season. The Mountaineers did not make the tournament last season due to late additions and falling during school holidays, but finished the season with the second-best record in the league (16-3), Fruscione said. That's what it means. The Vail Mountaineers 12U White team went 14-3 with him and also played at State University, where he went 1-2 in three games.
Vail Mountaineers Blue Team outscored opponents 90-12 During the season, goaltender Lily Cada recorded 12 shutouts. Samantha Sanders (27 points) and Watts (20 points) are third and fifth in the league in scoring, respectively, and Gabi Loizides (13) is second in assists. Although there are always some of the same names in the box score, Fruscione said Vail relies heavily on its overall strength.
“We wouldn't have come this far without them.” whole team,” she said in an email, adding that every girl on the team except Kada scored at least once this year.
“We are a product of all the girls who work on (and off) the ice to make it happen.”
Team chemistry was the key to the win, the coach said, and the final 90 seconds, and more specifically the final 30 seconds, were proof of that.
“We came together really well as a group,” Fruscione continued. “The girls never gave up on themselves or each other, and nothing could explain that more clearly than in the finals. With the season going this far, we just want to be there to coach them and cheer them on.” It's up to them to pull together and perform, and that's what they did.”
